I-405 (or “the 405” to locals), the major north-south artery through western Los Angeles, will be shut down this weekend from Friday evening through Monday morning, leading some to dub it Carmageddon. Theoretically, this is where connected devices and smartphones will shine, letting you know that you should take an alternate route (though a more appropriate directive might just be “don’t drive!”).
Waze is all over this, as is TeleNav, which isn’t using their mapping providers (NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas) for this as much as they are other sources like DOT, CalTrans and Westwood One. It’s also nice to see that Google has a warning up about the closure, even without specifying a date for a trip. I guess there are some advantages to living in LA; I’m not sure Google ever did figure out the six month long closure of I-40 between North Carolina and Tennessee.
So here’s my question for you readers in LA. How well does your smartphone or connected device handle this? If you’re using a dedicated GPS navigator with traffic coverage, is it routing you a different way? Come back this weekend and let us know!
Image courtesy Clownfish.
About Rich Owings
