Posted on 07/17/2011 4:20:48 PM PDT by waus
Carmageddon ended 16-17 hours ahead of schedule, said the mayor at a Sunday morning news conference.
Capitalism works, even in a Communist state.
The contractors received a $300,000 bonus for finishing ahead of schedule.
The original timetable called for a 5am Monday morning reopening of the 405.
Very weird how light the traffic actually was. Looks like people just stayed home.
>>Capitalism works, even in a Communist state.<<
As for the early completion, yes. The contractor originally said it was a 24 hour “dig” but then, wisely IMHO, fudged. He got $300K for free, we got our Freeway back, God is in His House smiling upon all.
As for the non-event “Carmageddon”: it was complicated — you would need Hari Seldon to figure out what happened to result in nothing happening.
It is the 1984 L.A. Olympics effect.
A combination of early warning, dire warning, L.A. laid-back thinking and hatred of traffic worse than day to day, and a myriad factors (especially the more complex “even if it looks great now, stay home” message).
And you in L.A. (I will be moved to Texas by then) are on notice this will happen again in 11 months. The variables on THAT are even more complex, given what didn’t happen this time.
Graphic depiction of that very fact here:
http://www.sigalert.com/Map.asp?Region=Greater+Los+Angeles#lat=34.1075&lon=-118.38718&z=1
All green on all LA freeways at anytime day or night is an anomaly of epic proportions.
Another *.mageddon fails to deliver.
I’ve got that ap on my iPhone. Comes in very handy, but I still yell at the radio when the traffic report is given and they say “(whatever) freeway is running smooth”, and you are going at 3 mph. Which is really hard to do with a standard transmission.
I did bookmark the link on my computer, thanks.
The site is very handy.
If you ever listen to KNX-1070, I drink a beer or two ever so often at Claim Jumper with Doug, the traffic reporter during the day on Saturday’s.
I’ve worn out two clutches on LA freeways.
Funny what sort of miracles happen when government unshackles the free market, eh?
Same thing happened when contractors had to rebuild the La Brea Ave overpass on the 10 freeway, after the ‘94 quake. Done on time, and under budget, due to financial incentives/disincentives.
Demolition Time Lapse Videos:
http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/more-mulholland-bridge-demolition-time-lapse-video-20110716
Did anyone take one of the $5 flights from Burbank to Long Beach? My dh and I thought that sounded like a hoot and would have taken a quick trip for lunch.
Not wishing ill of this particular contractor, but anyone who has been involved in bidding for competitive contracts KNOWS that the cheapest or the best is not necessarily the one that wins. I am willing to bet that the time factor was overestimated by LA or the State, whoever.
It was mentioned on KFI that the contractor only needed 24 hours to do the job. The rest was built in to accommodate problems. The governmental agencies pushed for the padded schedule. Some think it was to justify OT for city, state, LEO. and emergency workers. Cynical I know ;)
“As for the non-event “Carmageddon”: it was complicated — you would need Hari Seldon to figure out what happened to result in nothing happening.”
Whoever came up with the name Carmageddon is responsible. The creation told an entire story, with images, in one word. And that story went right into people’s brains, causing a ‘mass behavior change event’. That’s the power of mass communication coupled with targeted linguistics.
For one day anyway.
The coasts are full of p&%%$#%. I got so tired of hearing about poor californians having to be without their interstate for 53 hours on a weekend. They would have never survived here in St. Louis - MoDOT closed interstate 40/61 for 18 months at a go to replace it - twice. Once way down in the city then next out in what we call West County. We just delt with it and didn’t cry on national NEWS shows about it.
Agreed. The power of incentives. Also, Caltrans probably wanted a schedule with padding so that if anything went wrong there was time to recover. If a schedule that promised completion in 36 hours had not been met, there would be criticism and political ramifications. There would probably be hearings into the “fiasco” and lawsuits that may go nowhere, but make a lot of noise and cost lots of money. Probably much more than $300K. So a longer schedule and lots of warning, along with the incentives worked out well for all involved. (And my commute tomorrow morning will be OK....)
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