Quote from mleuck on Apr 2nd, 2013, 10:20pm:
You'd be surprised. Bike around the Bay south of Houston closes off a lane on 45 when the ride leaves Galveston and a Baytown ride last month had a lane closed just for cyclists going over a major bridge.
I skated the Baytown ride years ago, that bridge is a blast.
They also close part of I-35 in Duluth for an inline race. But in all instances it's one (maybe two) jurisdiction being dealt with, not 5 (or 6 depending on how you count it), and not all lanes for many miles. Also, this event was advertised as having rest stops every 10-12 miles, so either they would have had to have them on 75 (choke points), or have riders crossing the access road to get to them (accidents waiting to happen). That's part of the logistics nightmare.
Consider the MS-150 (Houston to Austin), they have a few lanes closed early in the ride, then closures in La Grange for the over night, and lanes closed in Austin for the finish (or at least they did they years I skated it). The entry fee and minimum donations were quite high, and multiplied by 15,000 riders (a very scary sight if you've never seen Houston flatlanders climbing the Austin hills). Add to that corporate sponsorships and they have some serious bank available. That's how they can afford to pay for all the closures
I still think that if this event had really happened the organizer would have lost money, and would have needed to be planned/permitted a year in advance.