Don't forget Susan, deciding to implement something is easy. Actually implementing something, especially something as big as contraflowing 100+ miles of freeway takes time to make happen. They had to seal exits, move jersy barriers, get police in place to direct traffic, etc. The only reason they were able to do it as fast as they did was because they had there were canes and other heavy equipment available nearby to make it happen. If they had needed to bring in the cranes from somewhere else through the blocked traffic they never would have accomplished it in time.

Since then they've rebuilt sections of the freeway to make it easy to set up a contraflow escape system.

-Blast