"Carmageddon?" "Never Mind!"

Remember "Carmageddon," when Los Angeles drivers would recklessly plunge the city into a veritable abyss of unspeakable chaos, horror, doom, and the mother of all traffic jams? Because Interstate 405 needed maintenance?

As Gilda Radner said, "never mind!"

"L.A. Freeway Reopens Ahead of Schedule"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 17, 2011)

"The event that many feared would be the 'Carmageddon' of epic traffic jams cruised calmly to a finish Sunday, with bridge work on the Los Angeles roadway completed nearly a full day ahead of schedule and officials reopening a 10-mile stretch of the busy freeway.

"Drivers honked their horns and waved from car windows as traffic started moving in all 10 lanes of Interstate 405 just after noon for the first time since being shut down at midnight Friday. There were no major problems since the freeway was closed, despite warnings.

"The mayor praised contractors for working so quickly and thanked city residents for heeding calls to stay off the roads. He also gave credit to news outlets for spreading word about the closure, which had been planned to last for 53 hours.

" 'We couldn't have done this without the cooperation of this city,' Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said...."

As the Lemming opined yesterday: "The Lemming thinks that "Carmageddon" will fizzle." Mostly because road maintenance and detours are routine here in Minnesota - and the Lemming doesn't think there's really all that much difference between folks in central Minnesota and Los Angeles.

Still: "Carmageddon" was a cool name; the impending doom of gridlock despair gave journalists something to exercise angst about; and the whole thing gave the Lemming posts - two days in a row.

Sort-of-related posts:

• " 'Carmageddon' is Upon Us? Them?"
  (July 16, 2011)
• "Milly Dowler, News of the World, and Old-School Journalism in the Information Age"
  (July 7, 2011)
  Particularly
  • A Purple-Skinned, Orange-Eyed Space Alien: and Today's News
• "Electric Cars That Actually Work"
  (November 2, 2010)
• "Flying Car Invented: Again"
  (July 1, 2010)
• "Solar Trees Top (Some) California Parking Lots"
  (August 29, 2009)
• "Power Stations in Space: California Caught On"
  (April 20, 2009)