The long-awaited “Carmaggedon” weekend came and went with very little effect on traffic conditions in Westwood, despite a barrage of warnings leading up to the event of the 405 Freeway closure.
Construction at Mulholland Bridge was completed about 17 hours ahead of schedule on Sunday. The public was allowed onto the freeway starting at noon.
Prior to the re-opening, the streets of Westwood were mostly deserted as there were few cars and even fewer pedestrians in the Village.
Even the usually busy Diddy Riese was missing its trademark line out of the door.
Store owner Mark Perry said that there was less traffic around Westwood than on a normal weekend, but that he also saw a marked decrease in the number of customers that the store had over the weekend.
“We’re doing about 60 percent (of the business) that we normally do,” Perry said. “But traffic-wise, it has been great.”
Most of the pedestrians in Westwood also said they noticed a decrease in the amount of traffic.
“It’s been a little surreal actually with so little traffic,” said Dennis McCarthy, who works in Westwood Village and lives near the 405.
Commuters who had driven to Westwood Village said that it took them substantially less time than they had expected.
“I left an hour early so that I could get here on time and it ended up only taking 15 minutes,” said Lauren Adler, who met up with a friend at Diddy Riese. “It was the fastest commute here than I can ever remember.”
The light traffic throughout the city was a very positive sign for transportation officials, said Helen Ortiz-Gilstrap, a spokeswoman for the MTA.
“Real success is that people really listened to the message, and stayed off the streets,” she said.
For weeks, the MTA has posted signs on freeways throughout Los Angeles warning about the traffic delays that were expected for the weekend and media sources from across the country covered the event.
Some students said that they thought that the media over-hyped the event and caused people to completely stay away from driving this weekend.
“I think the media focused on making it a bigger deal than it was, but that seems to have worked as there isn’t a lot of traffic,” said Jennifer Chyu, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student.
UCPD officers, who alongside the Los Angeles Police Department have increased the number of officers in Westwood Village, also said that there was less traffic present then what was expected.
The number of officers that are normally present in the village was doubled because of concerns over potential traffic jams in the Village, said Sgt. Scott Scheffler of UCPD.
Despite the negative effect that this closure has had on business, some people said that the lack of traffic was a welcome change.
“Not having traffic is kind of a nice change,” Perry said. “It reminds me of 20 years ago.”
The UCLA Health System had braced for a worst-case scenario situation, fearing that staffers would be unable to make it to work on Saturday. As a precaution, about 150 workers were randomly paired with roommates and were assigned to dorm rooms on the Hill.
While the fears were ultimately never realized ““ UCLA reported “business as usual” operations at the hospital in a statement on Saturday ““ staying in De Neve provided a memorable experience for hospital staffers.
“My roommate was a grandmother, and I’m pretty young, so that was interesting,” said nurse Heather Barry, who lives in Redondo Beach.
The workers were given handouts that outlined activities and dining options in Westwood, but most of the night-shift workers elected to catch up on sleep instead of going out.
During their stay, the workers were also allowed the option of eating at the dining commons in De Neve. Lab technician Ralph Nunez ate breakfast in the dining hall after his graveyard shift at the hospital.
“It was like Denny’s,” he said, adding with a laugh, “That’s not exactly a compliment.”
Amid the bustle of summer school, orientation sessions, sports camps and cheerleading conventions on the Hill, the process of housing hospital workers for the weekend ran smoothly.
Nurse Francis Soriano, who summed up temporary dorm life as being simply “OK,” said he was reminded of being an undergraduate himself.
Barry, however, left impressed.
“I stayed in the dorms at Florida State,” she said, glancing back at the De Neve buildings. “This place is like the Ritz-Carlton compared to there.”