Posted on 05/11/2016 8:42:42 AM PDT by C19fan
In December, preparing to escape what turned out to be a mild New York winter for the palmy breezes of Southern California, I was stunned when friends suggested that I think twice about coming to Los Angeles. What could be awful enough to keep my wife and me in the Northeast? I soon discovered that, for every Angeleno I spoke with, the answer was the same. It wasn’t homelessness, crime, or El Niño; it wasn’t that Kobe Bryant was retiring. No, it was traffic: the subject of constant calculation and discussion, a matter of negotiation between friends, spouses, and would-be experts jacked up by computer mapping—which works well, until it doesn’t.
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
Number one is avoid the 405 at all costs especially during rush hour. You might as well have breakfast lunch and dinner in your car.
RoboCop Drones.
UH OH! You haven’t been on the 91. My wife, and I are veterans of 8-1/2 years on the 91 between Western Riverside county, and City of Carson L.A. county. Six days a week most of the time. Saturdays aren’t much better than weekdays.
THAT Freeway is legendary.
My wife takes the 10 from Santa Monica to downtown every day. She’s excited that the Expo line is opening in 9 days. I have a 7 minute commute - by foot. Don’t worry, I did my time in the past driving to Thousand Oaks and Burbank.
Previously 20 years in SoCal. The ONLY excuse for tardiness to any event.......traffic.
Thought maybe they were going to talk about the traffic in Houston. Isn’t much better at night. Going to be a real hoot when we have a hurricane again and everyone tries to evacuate at once. Putting all those people on our highway system at one time is like putting four pounds of s*** in a one pound bag.
That is why we need more unrestricted immigration. We need even more people on the freeways. Hopefully we can even jam pack other cities so they can have ridiculous traffic too.
"But any proposal to ease congestion runs up against the gangrenous environmentalists who view gridlock positively, as a means of reducing car ridership and “saving” the environment...The city was built for the automobile, but the liberals who run things have been trying to change that. They talk about putting highways “on a diet,” but they’ve only succeeded in worsening the traffic problem...In a one-party town, failure has no consequences. Los Angeles mostly just throws more money at the problem."
ML/NJ
Deport all the illegals and the freeways will be free of traffic.
There are ways around the horrific traffic in LA and OC, but not everyone can avail themselves of the solutions.
If I’m going to LA, I time it to leave South OC around 9:00. If I can’t get back before about 2:30, I stay and have dinner before coming back. I can get home from Los Angeles in about 30 minutes at 7:30 PM.
If I’m going to the downtown Central Library for research, I take the train and then the Red Line. Takes me right to Pershing Square, a short walk from my destination. It doesn’t cost any more than driving and unless someone jumps in front of the train, I know exactly when I’ll get back.
As far as getting around the OC, the time rules apply. Never hit the 55 N after noon or the 91 after about 2:00. Take Santiago Canyon or the 241 if heading north and the 5 is backed up, etc.
There’s a reason the “Californians” talk about directions so much on SNL.
You know that skit on SNL, “The Californians”?
It’s not a skit. It’s a documentary. I live my life around when others are going to be in the road. That’s why I’m out of my mind around here like everyone else.
Stay away.
"But any proposal to ease congestion runs up against the gangrenous environmentalists who view gridlock positively, as a means of reducing car ridership and “saving” the environment...The city was built for the automobile, but the liberals who run things have been trying to change that. They talk about putting highways “on a diet,” but they’ve only succeeded in worsening the traffic problem...In a one-party town, failure has no consequences. Los Angeles mostly just throws more money at the problem."
What comes immediately before that:
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti offers a host of plans to alleviate the problem: Vision Zero, Great Streets, Complete Streets, Streets for People, and the optimistically named Mobility Plan 2035. But....
I know of at least some of those plans, and I'm cynical about the rest. "Complete Streets" usually means reducing general traffic lanes to make at least one Safe Space for bicycles, among other measures that ultimately reduce capacity. It's one of those "road diets" mentioned above. "Vision Zero" plans seem to imply that a motor vehicle is always at fault whe a pedestrian dies (the "zero" is an idea of zero traffic deaths), and therefore the plans seek to choke the streets accordingly. I don't expect much difference from "Streets for People," the underlying idea of which is probably that drivers aren't people, or "Mobility Plan 2035," which probably looks like a major Chinese city from years ago with the commoners all on bikes.
Lived 4 years in San Bernardino County, working as a consultant for CALTRANS.
When I first started, I had to go from Redlands to Norwalk...DAILY. In order to be at the office by 7:30am, I had to leave the house by 5:00am, and HOPE no one broke down on I-10 or the 605. Go the 91 to Imperial Highway? Ha!!And if I was still in Norwalk by 3:30pm, I was guaranteed not to be home before 6:30 or 7:00pm.
When my company moved our office to Ontario (because the CALTRANS office we worked for moved into the CALTRANS building in downtown LA and said we couldn’t move with them, and rent in Ontario was much cheaper,) I made it my personal rule to avoid driving into LA as much as I could. It helped that I was now only expected to be in LA about once a month on average. Even then, I still had to by in Ontario before 6:00am in order to be in downtown LA by 7:00, but now I would take the Metrolink train, and my only concern was knowing what times the return train to Ontario departed Union Station.
I grew up in Long Beach, attended and lived at USC, and then voted with my feet and left LA County permanently for OC and RivCo. I now avoid LA whenever possible. If SC and the Dodgers will just move to Riverside, I’m set.
I moved to Los Angeles for a job. Compared to the northeast I love it! Living close to work is key. Riding a bike to work is a great way to enjoy California's outdoor beauty and weather, get a tan and stay in shape. If Trump builds the wall and deports the illegals he'll make California great again.
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