Countdown to Carmageddon: The 405 Closure presents the reasons for the freeway's 53-hour closure and the unprecedented steps ordered by public officials to avoid severe traffic delays across the region. The program will also explore the potential long-term benefits to commuters and other drivers of modernizing the freeway. The program is scheduled to air on KCET as a special broadcast of the award-winning news program "SoCal Connected".

The 405 is being closed to allow scheduled demolition of the Mulholland Drive bridge in Sepulveda Pass. The closure extends for ten miles between Interstate 10 (the Santa Monica Freeway) and U.S. 101 (the Ventura Freeway.) On a normal summer weekend, about 500,000 drivers use that segment. Displacing so many travelers and managing the overflow of traffic onto other freeways and city streets poses a major challenge for public agencies. Countdown to Carmageddon details the impact and potential solutions through informative graphics and discussions with senior officials of Metro, the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles Police Department and UCLA, a major employer in the closure zone. Interview subjects include local residents and business owners, a radio traffic reporter, a top transportation researcher and Los Angeles cultural observer D.J. Waldie. Kevin Roderick, director of the UCLA Newsroom and a regular commentator on Los Angeles, narrates the program. The show was produced as public service by UCLA's University Communications and Public Outreach department. Matt Boatright-Simon, director of the UCLA Broadcast Studio, is the producer.