You’ve been warned and now it’s almost here—Carmageddon, or the weekend the 405 closure gridlocked the entire Los Angeles metro area.

While the 405 is nowhere near Art Center—it’s 30 miles west!—we’ll likely be feeling the pinch here as well. The L.A. Times predicts that Carmageddon will affect Pasadena and Downtown, too.

Here’s a mini-survival guide for the Art Center community:

• Check out events going on in Pasadena like the L.A. Street Food Fest at the Rose Bowl. In addition to free shuttles and free parking, the festival also has arranged for discounted rates at the Courtyard Marriot in Old Town Pasadena.
• Utilize public transit—and even better, many subway and bus lines will be free this weekend. Amtrak is offering discounted trips from Union Station to the Burbank airport, and JetBlue is flying folks between Long Beach and Burbank for $4 each way.
• Visit a local park or the Levitt Pavilion Free Summer Concert Series.
• Stop by the Old Pasadena Film Festival at One Colorado.

Of course, the entire ordeal might be over-hyped. Leave your weekend suggestions in the comments!

More on what is shaping up to be a traffic event of epic proportions:

• Matt DeBord (former Editorial Director here at Art Center) on the pains of aging infrastructure
• Tips from GOOD’s Alyssa Walker on “L.A.’s greatest new holiday”
• The Hollywood Reporter on how celebrities plan to tackle Carmageddon