This all reminds me of the aftermath from the Northridge Eartquake....I lived on the 'wrong' side of the collapsed Newhall Pass Interchange, and for months left home at 3:30am to get the 30 miles to work near Santa Monica; my start time was 8am.
Then, there were the aftershock-afternoons on the way back home when traffic would just shut down for four or five hours a couple of times a week; many of us got the hang of semi modest peeing-out-of-your-car act down pat.
To this day, both our cars have an empty coffee can in the trunk, along with a bit of TP.
you couldn't figure out an alternative street level route? Really.