WHY L.A. traffic sucks: that "monster," the 405 freeway...

WHY L.A. traffic sucks: that "monster," the 405 freeway...

Setting aside for a moment L.A. drivers addicted to driving and addicted to driving while talking on their cell phones, let's turn our attention for a moment to that "monster," the 405 freeway. Let's focus first on traffic going south--from the Valley to points south. On this stretch of the 405 from, say, the Ventura/101 exit in the Valley to the Century Blvd/LAX exit, the 405 is ALWAYS clogged. Perhaps not 24/7 but certainly from, say, 6:00am to 9:00pm MON-SAT (let's give Sunday MORNING a respite. But dare venture onto the 405 anytime Sunday afternoon or evening, and see what you're in for!).

WHY?

Simple. The 405 has at least 4 to 6 lanes (in some stretches) in each direction--plenty of lanes to carry quite a bit of traffic. BUT, as it approaches the I-10 junction, those 4 or 6 lanes narrow down to a TINY bottleneck of TWO measly lanes as the far right lane becomes the "Exit Only" ramp to enter I-10 West and the second right lane turns into the "Exit Only" ramp to enter I-10 East. The designers of this freeway probably assumed that most of the traffic from the north was going to go into one of these three directions--South, I-10 West, I-10 East--in equal proportions. Well, guesswhat? They guessed wrong. DEAD WRONG. MOST of the traffic is actually going south (LAX, for one!). And not only that. RIGHT BEFORE the 405/I-10 junction, FIVE (5) of the major East-West boulevards--Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic and Pico--feed into the 405 hundreds of cars, thousands of cars, from the East and from the West. And ALL OF THIS almost RIGHT BEFORE THE 405/I-10 junction where the freeway narrows to a bottleneck of a mere TWO lanes and so many cars have to negotiate where they are going: South on the 405? East on I-10? Or West on I-10?

Right after this two-lane bottleneck, the freeway widens again into more lanes. BUT guesswhat? the ramps from I-10 East and West feed even MORE cars into the 405. So you have a jam before the bottleneck and a jam after the bottleneck. And this jam is not disolved until you reach the Century Blvd/LAX exit.

This is TERRIBLE DESIGN. I don't care WHO did it, I don't care WHEN they did it, I don't care WHY they did it, it is TERRIBLE, ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE DESIGN. Whoever created the 405 created most of the traffic problems on the Westside. (See my April 26, 2006 post: "WHY L.A. traffic sucks #2: bad (or not exactly forward-looking) design"). And this jumbled junction, right before FIVE (5) of the major East-West boulevards--Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic and Pico--feeding into it, causes a major backed-up bottleneck traffic jam GRIDLOCK all the way to the Ventura Blvd. exit in the Valley. It is ridiculous. It is ABSURD. It is one of the reasons -- perhaps not the only reason, but certainly one of the MAIN reasons, if not THE MAIN REASON-- the 405 is ALWAYS jammed. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a civil engineer to figure this one out. Anybody with a modicum of intelligence can figure out what the problem is by driving through this juction. Now that the problem has been created--who knows how long ago--the hard part is, HOW to solve it.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX IT? SOLUTION: REDIRECTING TRAFFIC

There is construction work on the 405 from Wilshire all the way to Century Blvd. It looks like they are trying to widen the freeway and improve some entrances/exits (and/or put in those ridiculous ineffective HOV lanes. Does anyone know?). Depending on WHAT they are trying to do and HOW LONG it will take them to complete it (anyone's guess!), anyone expecting the 405 to get any better anytime soon is dreaming.

The solution, again, must be to redirect some of that north-south traffic ELSEWHERE, and that "elsewhere" can only be either onto Sepulveda or onto Sawtelle. That in turn cannot be done without creating an unbelievable jam at the five or six major roads--Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico, Venice--that intersect Sepulveda and Sawtelle. The 405 needs a break! But it can't be given a break at the expense of all those other major roads. What to do?

OVERPASSES OVER WILSHIRE, SANTA MONICE, OLYMPIC, PICO AND VENICE ON SEPULVEDA AND/OR SAWTELLE

My idea of turning roads into virtual "freeways" by keeping the lights GREEN for a longer period of time would not work here. Those major roads--Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico, Venice--need to be turned into virtual "freeways" themselves or East-West traffic will continue to be jammed as it is. Overpasses might be one possible solution, if not the only viable solution. Redirecting traffic has to become one of the KEY SOLUTIONS to traffic problems in L.A. The major freeways and major roads cannot handle the current volume of cars hoisted onto them. Enlarging all the freeways, or even building new ones (major ones), is, if not politically, certainly financially impossible. Building a comprehensive subway system or a monorail in earthquake-prone California is, if not politically, certainly financially a long way off (it ain't happening tomorrow! I can tell you that much!). It is time for CREATIVE solutions to intractable problems that work NOW--RIGHT NOW. It might not be pretty (overpasses tend to uglify intersections) but gridlock is even uglier--and unhealthier. SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE.

THE 90 MARINA DEL REY FREEWAY

The 90 Marina del Rey freeway is a great example of what could be done to redirect traffic. If you are coming North on the 405 and heading towards Marina del Rey, Venice or downtown Santa Monica, The 90 Marina del Rey freeway is a very wise, if not the very best, alternative. TAKE IT. You'd have to be crazy to stay on the 405 when you can take the 90.

Driving Tip #1:

Once you get to Lincoln, make a right and go as far as Washington Blvd. Make a left on Washington and you'll get anywhere in Marina del Rey you need to go. You're going to Venice? Make a left on Washington and then make a right on Abbot Kinney and you'll get anywhere in Venice you need to go. You're going to downtown Santa Monica? Make a left on Washington and then make a right on Aboot Kinney. Stay on Abbot Kinney until it "tees" with Main. Make a right on Main. Make a left on Rose (DO NOT GO THROUGH THE REST OF MAIN!! Too many lights and too much pedestrian traffic! Nielssen rocks!). Make a right on Nielssen Way and stay on Nielssen until it turns into Ocean Blvd. and you'll get anywhere in downtown Santa Monica (Third Street Promenade) you need to go. This way you will have bypassed all the traffic and gotten to your destination a lot more quickly than by staying on the 405 (I did this ALL THE TIME!).

This is the kind of CREATIVE redirection of traffic that needs to be done all over L.A. to unclog the freeways and major roads and get traffic flowing.

This is the other possible solution based on the same premise of redirecting traffic: build more SHORT freeways like the 90 Marina del Rey freeway.

Whoever had the idea of building the 90 Marina del Rey freeway had an excellent idea. L.A. needs a lot more such excellent ideas!

With this "get there quick" tip, we're going to start a series of helpful "how to get there quick" tips all over L.A. (you're welcome to contribute!!). Finding creative ways of "getting there" by redirecting traffic is the only way to get freeways and major roads UNCLOGGED and find some "breathing room" in L.A.--at least for the time being, until the city faces what it has to do to seek more permanent solutions...
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Photo: FOCUSING ON THE SOLUTION, NOT ON THE PROBLEM!
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Make it viral. Make it vital...

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