It was bad enough before

THE car civilisation of southern California is famous for its discontents. On a good day, one merely wastes too much time in the car. On an average day, the id asserts its rage against the texting, eating, swerving masses obstructing and endangering one's path. On a bad day, an accident or closure cuts off a major artery and all plans are off.

Just such a closure will occur between July 15th and 18th. For 53 hours, workers will shut a portion of “the 405”. The stretch is not long—ten miles northbound and four miles southbound—but it is strategic. Not only does it run along landmarks such as the Getty Centre, but it is also a mountain pass that connects two other freeways, the 10 and the 101, and, more generally, western and southern Los Angeles with California's north, from the San Fernando Valley to the central coast or Central Valley beyond.

Normally, on such a weekend, half a million cars might travel on this highway. Which is why it must be closed: for construction, as part of a plan to expand it. But for many Angelenos that means “carmageddon”, as the closure has already been dubbed. For some it is a pun on the end of times, for others on the eponymous and violent video game involving vehicular combat, an appropriate metaphor.

Many businesses along the route, including the Getty museum, will close. Four big hospitals in Santa Monica and Los Angeles have complained that their doctors and nurses, not to mention patients, might not be able to get to emergency rooms. Others are wondering how, or whether, they will get to their jobs, schools, churches, temples, the airport or any fun. Most will take alternative routes, spreading the misery.

A European might ask why people don't bicycle instead, or take a bus or train. Yes, Los Angeles does have a weighty document, the “2010 Bicycle Plan”, but nobody believes it will do more than the two previous, and equally grandiose, bike visions, proclaimed in the 1970s and 1990s. As for buses, they do exist, but only the poor seem to be on them and routes are being cancelled for budgetary reasons. Los Angeles's mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, also has a pet underground project, called the “subway to the sea”. But the general rule seems to be that public transport in Los Angeles has a great future, and always will.