A Survival Guide for 'Carmageddon'

Starting Friday night, the earth will freeze on its axis, toads will fall from the sky, and a plague of locusts will descend on Los Angeles....

Well, not really, but given some of the reaction to the 53-hour closure of the 405 Freeway starting Friday night you'd almost expect that it has.

The specific boundaries of the closure are the 10 miles between the I-10 and U.S. 101 on the Northbound I-405 and the 4 miles between the U.S. 101 and the Getty Center Drive Ramps on the Southbound I-405.

The closure is set to begin no earlier than 7 p.m. on Friday July 15, and should be completed by 5 a.m. on Monday, July 18, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority is encouraging motorists to "plan ahead, avoid the area or stay home."

What will happen is that traffic on all the area freeways is likely to increase, and it might be a good weekend to stay in town.

Here are some useful tips for how to survive the weekend.

1) Avoid the beach - It would be hard enough to possibily drive there as it is, but to add to the problem the that provides a cheap, direct transit option to the beach will not be rolling on Friday.  Desperate beach-goers can hop on the .

2) Stay in town and shop - Some local merchants are already thinking about Carmageddon as an opportunity- is offering 25 percent off on items today and Friday.

3) Go to local events - We've got some great ideas on how to spend the weekend without even getting on the freeway in our feature.

4) Take public transportation - Metro is adding some extra buses all over Los Angeles County and there are plenty of places you can reach with the Gold Line.  The best way to make your transit plans is to use Google Maps public transportation planner.

5) Fly instead? Unbelievably enough, Jet Blue offered a $4 each way flight from Burbank to Long Beach this weekend to jump over the Los Angeles without driving.  Unfortunately, it sold out in hours.  Keep an eye out for any new crazy offers that might pop up though!