UCLA Medical Center prepared for 'Carmageddon'

The UCLA medical center in Santa Monica and Westwood and the Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles medical center say they are prepared for the shutdown of the San Diego Freeway next week. Much of the San Diego Freeway will be closed from the Ventura Freeway south to the Santa Monica Freeway beginning the night of July 15. The section will be shut down for about 53 hours until it reopens in the early morning on July 18. While closed, transportation officials will demolish the south side of the Mulholland Bridge in order to begin widening the San Diego Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass. In preparation for the closing, UCLA reserved nearly 240 double occupancy rooms for staff at a university-owned hotel and a dormitory on its campus. Meanwhile, the VA center will offer overnight accommodations to employees in order to ensure the medical center is fully staffed. About 500,000 cars pass through the closed San Diego Freeway section on a normal summer weekend.