the project manager gordon bawden said at the time .
for 53 hours starting friday night , the 405 will be closed for a 10 - mile stretch through the sepulveda pass on the western side of los angeles so the california department of transportation , or caltrans , can partially demolish a bridge to create a new lane for high - occupancy vehicles .
the 250,000 vehicles that normally use that part of the 405 daily the army of men and machines chewed through the sepulveda pass , casting aside in a geological blink of an eye what had taken nature millions of years to make .
the road that prefigured the 405 , four - lane sepulveda boulevard , opened in 1935 and was hailed in the los angeles times as a " new and wondrous highway " over the mountains , vastly superior to the overcrowded cahuenga pass and laurel canyon .
officials fear it will bring los angeles to a standstill .
this weekend 's closure of the 405 freeway , also known as the san diego freeway , through the sepulveda pass as part of a $ 1 billion widening project is being foretold as " carmageddon " — a potential cataclysm that underscores the region 's servitude to an overburdened freeway system .
 
the santa monica company is offering 20 % off on account of the planned closure of interstate 405 .