#Mulholland Drive bridge,#LA,USA, Southern #Californians have made the ultimate sacrifice to avoid the dreaded Carmageddon - leaving their cars in the garage. Unusually light traffic flowed freely through Los Angeles on Saturday despite fears of epic traffic jams spawned by the 53-hour shutdown of a 16-kilometre stretch of one of the region's most critical freeways. "Everyone's calling this Carmageddon weekend, but it feels like 'Copter-geddon' over where we live," he said. Not everyone was cooperating, though. California Highway Patrol Officer Charmaine Fajardo said a 74-year-old man was arrested for jogging on the closed freeway after police told him he couldn't do so, and one or more bicyclists also were intercepted on the route. -- The closure is designed to give construction workers enough time to raze the southern half of the bridge, which is being chipped away using cutting saws, acetylene torches and jackhammers mounted on heavy equipment. About 4,000 tons of concrete must be removed. Contractors working on the 405 Freeway project face penalties of $6,000 for every 10 minutes they run over the allotted time for completion — which is 53 hours. The fines apply separately for each side of the freeway, meaning that amount would double if both the southbound and northbound lanes remain closed. http://archbhoo-india.blogspot.com/2011/07/405-bridge-demolition-work-is.html