A flood of headlights and honking horns returned to the 405 freeway Sunday evening as Carmageddon II came to a close, with minimal impact on the UCLA community, officials said.
Unlike the first Carmageddon, which occurred in July 2011, Westwood had thousands of students returning to school for the start of the year crowding the streets of Westwood Village, in addition to the projected traffic jams.
Despite the extra influx of people in the area, Westwood experienced a negligible impact from the closures, said Nancy Greenstein, a UCPD spokeswoman.
Some students, such as Jessica Carroll, a fifth-year English and gender studies student, reworked her weekend plans to avoid the commute.
“I wanted to go home (to Downey) to visit my boyfriend, but he wouldn’t let me face the traffic,” Carroll said. “I am definitely scared of (driving in) the traffic.”
UCPD activated an Emergency Operations Center in anticipation of the closures.
The center, which had representatives from the medical, police and fire departments continuously on call, had an uneventful weekend, Greenstein said.
Although, the major freeway closures have come to an end, Westwood residents will continue to endure road and ramp closures, as Metro continues to remodel the Wilshire ramps over the next year.
At 8 p.m. on Sunday, Kiewit, the contracting company for the Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project, began to open freeway ramps with plans to entirely reopen the freeway before midnight ““ several hours ahead of schedule, according to a Metro statement.
The campaign to keep drivers off the main roads was successful both this year and last year, said Dave Sotero, a Metro spokesman.
During both rounds of closures, Metro offered residents discounts at restaurants around Los Angeles.
Last year’s round of 405 freeway closures did not cause many traffic mishaps because Metro encouraged Los Angeles residents to stay in their local neighborhood and avoid major motorways ““ Metro officials were pleased with what they considered another success with freeway closures, Sotero said.