Delivering real-time traffic control for the Academy Awards in Los Angeles

The LADOT Special Traffic Operations and LA Metro field team on site in Hollywood: 61 closures coordinated by a centralized team of two.

One of the world’s most-watched events, in a dense urban grid.

The Academy Awards is one of the most high-profile and widely viewed events in the world, drawing global attention to the heart of Hollywood each year. In preparation, the surrounding area is transformed into a secured event zone, requiring extensive road closures, pedestrian management, and coordinated traffic operations across a dense urban grid.

Closures span multiple major corridors and surrounding local streets, impacting residents, businesses, and visitors alike. Managing this effectively requires precise planning, real-time execution, and clear communication with the public to ensure safe access while minimizing disruption.

With thousands of attendees, media personnel, and support staff converging on a concentrated footprint, agencies must balance security, mobility, and public information, all within a rapidly changing, high-pressure environment.

“This was one of the largest events we’ve managed, and from our standpoint, it went really well. The platform was simple, easy to use, and quick to deploy.”

– Steven Meraz, LADOT

The challenge for LADOT

Coordinating across agencies, in real time, under pressure.

Los Angeles is home to some of the world’s most high-profile events, with the Academy Awards standing out as one of the most complex to manage. Each year, the event transforms the heart of Hollywood, requiring extensive road closures, security perimeters, and coordination across multiple agencies, all within a dense urban environment.

Managing traffic for the Oscars requires seamless collaboration between LADOT’s Special Traffic Operations Division, LA Metro, public safety agencies, event organizers, and navigation providers, while also adapting in real time to changing conditions on the ground.

Historically, this level of coordination has been difficult to manage, often relying on manual processes, delayed updates to navigation platforms, and limited visibility into real-time field operations.

Planned view: the full Hollywood event footprint mapped in Traffic Management ahead of the event, creating one shared source of truth across agencies.

The solution

Planning and live execution in one shared platform.

To support the scale and complexity of the Academy Awards, LA Metro and LADOT implemented Causeway one.network to bring together both planning and real-time execution within a single, shared platform.

Design and coordinate the closure plan

Using Traffic Management, agency staff were able to design and coordinate a comprehensive closure plan across the Hollywood event footprint, mapping road and lane restrictions in advance of the event. This created a centralized, accurate source of truth that could be shared across agencies.

Activate and adjust closures in real time

During the event, Live Link enabled key personnel to activate and manage those closures in real time directly from mobile devices. As conditions evolved, teams could quickly adjust closures, respond to unplanned incidents, and ensure that the information being shared with the public reflected what was actually happening on the ground.

All updates were automatically distributed to major navigation providers, including Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze, ensuring drivers received accurate, near real-time routing around the event area.

Together, Traffic Management and Live Link allowed LA Metro and LADOT to move beyond static planning and into active, real-time traffic operations, improving coordination between agencies while delivering more reliable information to the public.

Rapid deployment and time to value

From first conversation to live event in under two weeks.

One of the most notable aspects of the Academy Awards deployment was how quickly the entire operation came together. From the initial conversation through training, configuration, and full event execution, the solution was implemented in less than two weeks. During that time:

• Agency staff onboarded and trained on Traffic Management and Live Link
• The full event footprint mapped and validated
• Users prepared to execute closures in real time during live operations

Despite the compressed timeline, agencies were able to successfully deploy the platform at scale for one of the most complex events in Los Angeles. This rapid time to value highlights the platform’s ease of use and the ability for agencies to quickly move from planning to real-world execution, without requiring lengthy implementation cycles or complex setup.

Execution at scale

A large, complex footprint, run by a team of two.

The Academy Awards required coordinated traffic control across one of Los Angeles’ busiest and most complex urban environments.

• 61 closures implemented (58 road, 3 lane)
• 32 hours operational window across setup, event operations and teardown
• 85 real-time activation events recorded
• 2 users on the centralized team managing it all

Despite the scale and complexity, closures were deployed in a controlled and efficient manner, with the majority activated overnight in alignment with event setup. The ability to manage such a large footprint with a small, coordinated team highlights the operational efficiency achieved through the platform.

“For an event of this size, being able to manage everything with a small team and still keep it coordinated was huge for us.”

– Armen Kamyshyan, LADOT

Real-time impact

On drivers’ phones within minutes, Waze in under a minute.

Closures were reflected across major navigation platforms, including Waze, Google Maps, and Apple Maps, within minutes of activation. This ensured that drivers received accurate, real-time routing around the event area, reducing congestion and minimizing confusion for both visitors and local residents.

For agencies, this meant greater confidence that the information being shared publicly matched real-world conditions on the ground, an essential requirement for an event of this scale. Closures were reflected across navigation apps within minutes, enabling accurate routing.

“It was really valuable to see reactive closures happen in real time, especially when unexpected situations came up. Waze was the quickest, we were seeing updates in less than a minute after activating closures.”

– Linh Trinh, LA Metro

Key outcomes

What changed for LA Metro and LADOT.

• Successful large-scale deployment during one of Los Angeles’ most high-profile events
• Improved coordination between LA Metro and LADOT
• Real-time operational control, enabling agencies to activate and adjust closures as needed
• Accurate, timely public communication through integrated navigation platforms

Together, these outcomes demonstrate how agencies can move beyond static planning to deliver coordinated, responsive traffic operations in real time.

“We were able to do what we needed to do with the tool. It was a success and a great learning experience to build from.”

– Ed Alegre, LA Metro

Lessons learned:What the work taught us

The deployment also provided valuable insights to inform future operations:

• Opportunities to enhance user workflows for managing large volumes of closures
• Continued refinement of data handling to improve consistency across navigation platforms
• Importance of proactive coordination with third-party providers for major events
• Validation of real-time execution as a critical capability for complex event management

These learnings are already being incorporated into future planning and product development.

Looking ahead: A repeatable model for major events

Following the success of the Academy Awards, LA Metro and LADOT are expanding their use of Causeway one.network to support upcoming major events. With the FIFA World Cup 2026 and LA 2028 Olympic Games on the horizon, the platform will play a key role in enabling scalable, coordinated traffic operations across the region. Additional pilots and cross-agency collaboration are already underway to build on this foundation.

Conclusion

The Academy Awards demonstrated a clear shift from traditional, plan-based traffic management to real-time, operational control. By connecting planning, field execution, and public communication, LA Metro and LADOT were able to deliver a more coordinated, responsive, and data-driven approach to managing traffic at scale. This approach not only improved operations for the event itself, but also established a repeatable model for managing future large-scale events across Los Angeles.