Lessons From ?Carmageddon?

It’s an irritating fact of life those of us who live in “flyover country” must regularly endure breathless and intensive national news attention to stories of real interest only in the big population centers of the East and West coasts. (Remember Joey Buttafuoco and the Long Island Lolita?)

The two-day closure of 10 miles of Interstate 405 near Los Angeles was dubbed “Carmageddon” even though it was scheduled well in advance and involved half the distance and lasted one-third as long as the closure of Interstate 40 in eastern Arkansas during historic flooding back in May. (The Associated Press, in a moment of hype-induced insanity, actually declared Carmageddon to be the official designation for the shutdown of I-405, thumbing its nose at the makers of a video game of the same name.)

And in the end, like Y2K, Carmageddon was a big, overhyped nothing. People in Southern California remembered there is such a thing as a detour. Or  they decided to stay home for the weekend.

L.A. entertainment blogger Sharon Waxman wrote, “Can’t every week be Carmageddon? That was the most stress-free, relaxing two days on the byways of Los Angeles that I can remember. A pleasure.”

There are lessons to be taken from Carmageddon, none of them new but all of them worth a reminder:

• Plan ahead, even if plans don’t always roll as smoothly as the work on I-405. In order to change plans, you have to have a plan in the first place.
• Spread the word. Communicate the plan to everyone who could possibly be affected. (It wasn’t necessary to beat down the rest of the country with the news of a road construction project, but making sure every driver in Southern California was aware of the where, when and why was vital. p
• Follow instructions. There were, reportedly, a few scofflaws who tried to get away with something during the shutdown of “the 405,” but the vast majority of drivers understood and accepted the short, necessary inconvenience and made alternate plans. (There’s that word again.)
• Under-promise and over-deliver. This is a great policy for everyone, and it worked beautifully for California highway officials. They promised something nigh unto a disaster and then reopened the interstate nearly a full day ahead of schedule.