Carmageddon shortcuts on L.A.'s Westside

WEST LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Interstate 405 Freeway will be closed between the 10 and the 101 freeways beginning Friday night and lasting until Monday morning.

The closure of the 405 is going to affect the Westside of L.A. the most. On any given weekday, the streets that cross the freeway east to west can be a challenge during morning and afternoon commute hours.

See a live cam shot of the Mulholland Bridge construction site.

Shut down the entire freeway and the ramps, and it could be worse than a rainy Friday afternoon.

So this weekend, you'll probably want to avoid Sunset, Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards if at all possible.

Of all the streets that move east and west across the 405, Olympic tends to move the best. It's really wide, lots of lanes in each direction. Sure, it could still get clogged up on Carmageddon weekend, but it's not as likely to as the other east-west streets in the area.

Olympic tends to move especially well on weekends. During the week, the large office buildings to the west of the freeway are the workplace for thousands of people.

Obviously on Saturday and Sunday, those buildings will be mostly empty.

If the whole area gets really clogged, try heading south.

Venice Boulevard is another good alternate.

There are three lanes each direction at all times for much of the length of it, and it will take you all the way from Venice Beach to the Mid-City area and on into downtown L.A.

It's also a great bypass if the Santa Monica Freeway becomes a mess.

For north-south travel, your options are a bit limited. Most people think of Sepulveda just to the east of the 405, but just to the west is Sawtelle, much less busy on most days.

You can take that from Washington all the way up into West L.A., but keep in mind it narrows down to one lane at Olympic, and just north of Santa Monica Boulevard it ends entirely.

No matter what route you choose, remember that a closed 405 is likely to send a ripple effect to all the surrounding streets.

The best plan of action, if you really have to travel to or through L.A.'s Westside, is to have several alternate streets in mind.

Check out an interactive map of Dave Kunz 405 closure shortcuts.

Get live traffic maps at abc7.com/traffic

Beat Carmageddon with ABC7

The 405 shuts down the weekend of July 16-17, and ABC7 Eyewitness News is your home for the latest traffic news and information. Follow @abc7 and @BeatCarmageddon on Twitter, and use the hash tag #abc7traffic.

ABC7 has also partnered with Waze to help navigate the traffic. Download the Waze app, which provides free turn-by-turn GPS navigation based on the live conditions of the road. Join the community of drivers in Southern California today and beat Carmageddon.

Check out the latest Carmageddon coverage from abc7.com

Get more ABC7 Traffic Center »

carmageddon, I-405 closure, construction, road closure, abc7 traffic center, dave kunz

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