In the middle of Carmageddon, a triathlon will close streets

By the time Metro decided to schedule the 405 freeway shutdown for this weekend, the Herbalife Triathlon Los Angeles was already on the calendar for Sunday, Sept. 30. So while the nation's busiest freeway segment is closed, 2,500 competitors from 28 states and 12 countries will swim in the ocean off Venice, bike across Venice Boulevard just south of the shutdown zone and sprint to the finish line downtown. So much for the warnings by local officials to stay off the streets at all costs.

The Dodgers will also be playing with the playoffs on the line, Placido Domingo will be singing at the Los Angeles Opera, the Hollywood Bowl will present the Go-Gos and Willco, the West Hollywood Book Fair will take place, and there will be special events at many local museums. Clearly, a lot of people will be driving.

"We had settled on this date 11 months ago,” says Jan Fambro, who does media relations for the triathlon. "It had gone through the city, the county, the whole approval process. We had looked at other events happening in L.A. and checked with sponsors." More at ZevWeb:

Of all the diversions that have been forced to belatedly incorporate Carmageddon II into their planning, the triathlon has had the most ironic set of challenges. While the rest of Southern California is being urged to stay home and steer clear of the roads on Sunday, the thousands of triathletes and their fans will be out in full force on the pavement, crisscrossing Los Angeles from the shore to Staples Center, first in the water, then on bicycles and finally on foot via a 6-mile loop Downtown.

On top of that, the bike course will be shutting down sections of surface streets for part of the morning, closing Venice Boulevard from the beach to the 10, Fairfax Boulevard from the 10 to Olympic Boulevard and Olympic to Staples Center. All streets should be open by noon.

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“The reality is, it mainly affects those people who are coming from the San Fernando Valley and parts further west,” she says. Participants making that trek are being advised to allow extra time and to use Pacific Coast Highway as an alternate route down to Venice before the starting gun is fired for the first wave of triathletes at 7:15 am.