Studio City Nerd has left a new comment on your post "DRIVING TIPS: SMART FOXES vs. HERDS OF SHEEP.":
The reason that routes like the Palms bypass aren't clogged with traffic is that most people don't know about them.
If you talk about such routes too much, they will become clogged with traffic.
Or the residents of the (usually residential) areas they run through will get tired of all the "smart fox" traffic, and install speed bumps, No-Turn-During-Rush-Hour signs, or otherwise block off and muck up your favorite bypass.
A while back, some fool actually published a whole book full of these rush-hour bypasses, and the resulting boom in traffic led to a number of them implementing exactly the sort of restrictions described above. Ruined some of the best bypasses in the city.
So, mum's the word! Don't give away the secrets.
Posted by Studio City Nerd to L.A. traffic sucks: Let's fix it! at 5/16/2006 01:55:52 PM
italianesco replies:
Thanks for reading the blog and for your new comments!
I thought about it, and at first I myself was reluctant to post the "Palms secret." But at this rate, how to bypass traffic and get there on time is bound to become the "Holy Grail" of L.A. traffic and we, holders of the secrets, are going to become a Priory of Sion exclusive secret society!! (As long as that sex ritual in the book is part of it and I am appointed "Grand Master," I'm cool with it! :-)
I agree with you that "the reason that routes like the Palms bypass aren't clogged with traffic is that most people don't know about them." But here's the thing. Under this blog's title I wonder whether we should add L.A. traffic to those other two things in life that have NO solution: DEATH and THE MIDDLE EAST. Those in the residential areas are like the Israelis: "We won't give up an inch!" And the rest of us are like the Palestinians: "We need some land!" At some point, it'll turn "Salomonic": should we threaten to cut the "baby" in half for the REAL mother to come forth and give it up rather than see it die? Because that's where L.A. is headed: add 100,00 or 500,000 or 1 million more cars to the roads, and where is all that traffic going to go? (See " WHY L.A. traffic sucks: OPEN DISCUSSION #1: SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE"). Will it spill over into these lovely, quiet neighborhoods right off the main roads? With speed dips and stop signs and everything else designed to discourage me from driving through, I would plow right through those roads parellel to Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Even with dips and stop signs and all, it was FASTER than Santa Monica Blvd.!
Yes, I know. I was a bit amazed to discover all these quiet, lovely neighborhoods RIGHT OFF the bustling, wild city roads and boulevards. It's like a whole different world one block away! And L.A. needs those quiet, lovely neighborhoods for their residents to keep their sanity. But drivers are going insane with frustration out there, too (I know I was!).
SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE.
THINKING BEYOND THE GRID
I think this whole thing is the fault of urban planners. I think that by now, SOMEBODY should have come up with an urban layout for a city OTHER THAN the GRID. The GRID leads to GRIDLOCK. And the cities of the future CANNOT afford this problem. There must be some other design, layout, blueprint for cities other than GRIDS. Perhaps circular or semi-circular designs that allow traffic to flow in different directions without getting jammed somehow. I am sure that a group of mathematicians (topologists: see image above), computer scientists, architects and urban planners can come up with such a design. And perhaps existing GRID layout cities can be slightly modified to make traffic flow without disturbing and upsetting ANYBODY.
Whatever happened to American ingenuity? Did they leave it up there somewhere on the surface of the moon 37 years ago? Or does it take a Sputnik to bring it out? Perhaps America is like France. DeGaulle said that "France is not herself unless she's engaged in a great enterprise." Perhaps for Americans traffic and urban planning are not a great enterprise, but a space race with the Soviet Union was.
We have to start thinking beyond the GRID, or traffic in all the cities of the world is indeed bound to become the third thing that has NO solution after DEATH and the MIDDLE EAST.
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Photo collage by italianesco: Moebius strip over aerial view of city grid
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Make it viral. Make it vital...
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