Carmageddon!

Last weekend, California closed down the 405 ("the 405" or "405" or "I-405", whatever you want to call it). It got a lot of attention and a lot of people were not happy about it, and then were. According to this article, it took 18 hours less than expected (what?! that never happens in road construction!), and hopefully it is successful. Either way, it was an amazing work of coordination to have that major of a freeway shut down for a day, even on a weekend. One of the most interesting things that came out of it was a group of bikers raced a $4 Jet Blue flight from Burbank to Long Beach and won! This flight was supposed to help "ease the crazy" on the weekend while the freeway was down, but really, if you can bike it just as fast or faster, why fly?! The Wolfpack, as the bikers called themselves, admittedly were racing the plane, so they might have been in better shape than I am, but the possibility that I could get there for almost free, at about the same rate, and feel good about myself would make me definitely want to try it out!
On another note, India is promoting traffic congestion with their new policy to give couples a car if they sterilize themselves. I realize that overpopulation is a lot of a problem there, so traffic congestion may not be their top concern, but it is an interesting way to reduce the number of children being born, and encourage mobility for the residents!
And this road in Jackson Heights has turned a road into a summer play area, closing it off to cars for a few months every year, and now is considering turning it into a permanent thing! I think this is an amazing idea. If people are willing to give up driving and parking for a few months, why not a couple more to always have a safe place for kids to run and play outside of their homes. A coworker also mentioned that it could be an issue to NOT have it open all year because children might not realize that cars are allowed at certain times of the year and could wander into the street only to be hit by a car, and then of course, their parents might be blamed (see two postings below for my angry rant on a lady who was charged when her son was hit by a car). 

R