Authorities are putting the word out ahead of a major freeway closure next month, hoping to avoid - as they did in 2012 - a traffic nightmare they've nicknamed Carmageddon, Transit officials will be closing a section of Interstate 5 on the weekend of April 25-27 as part of a major improvement project that involves tearing down a bridge.

They are warning people who travel through the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank to stay entirely away from that freeway section during those days.

If they don't, officials say, a backup that could gridlock highways all across Southern California could result.