Carmageddon II: Slow-speed motorcade opens the 405 Freeway

The sirens could first be heard ringing through the Sepulveda Pass near the Mulholland Bridge at 9:32 p.m., but it took another five minutes for the first of the California Highway Patrol cars to make it there.

Following the patrol cars was a parade of industrial trucks -- arrow-pointing trucks, dump trucks, pickup trucks -- accompanied by the howl of sirens.

Then, by 9:40, the first motorists began crossing underneath the bridge. They inched down the freeway, many with their windows down to feel the cool night breeze and smell the earthy scent lingering after the opposite side of the freeway was scrubbed.

They honked. They waved their arms out the windows. A number of them bellowed words of gratitude to workers. One man in a sports car was trying to mug for the news cameras as he drove.

By 9:48, drivers were plowing north at full speed. The 405 Freeway was back in business.

-- Rick Rojas

Photo: Cars stream north on the 405 Freeway, ahead of schedule, over the Sepulveda Pass on Sunday night. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times