Los Angeles Turns To Celebrities To Get the Word Out About Upcoming Highway Closure

For one weekend in July, a key highway in Los Angeles will be closed for 53 hours straight while workers demolish a bridge. It's part of a massive project to widen Highway 405 and add a high-occupancy vehicle lane, and the city is doing everything it can to make sure residents "plan ahead, avoid the area, or stay home."

To avoid "carmageddon," the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is trying to e-publicize the closure any way it can. Of course there's a website. There are also live chats. And a downloadable countdown widget clock, as well as an embeddable graphic banner.

Oh, and the LAPD has asked Lady Gaga to tweet about it.

But there is an old-school component to the publicity: Erik Estrada -- of CHiPs fame --  made a video.