Following up on our last post, if we speed up traffic by creating East-West "speed corridors" on all major roads on the Westside from Sunset to Venice, what happens to North-South traffic?
Here's a better question: as things stand today, how in the world does one get fast enough from the 101 to I-10 through Hollywood or West Hollywood? How in the world does one get fast enough from the 101 to I-10 or points south without taking the 405 or going all the way downtown?
The answer lies in the "Freeway Revolts" of the 1970's. You can read all about it in this wikipedia entry. Here's a quote from it:
"The Freeway Revolts (sometimes expressway revolts) refer to a phenomenon encountered in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, where planned freeway construction in many U.S. cities was halted due to widespread public opposition; especially of those whose neighborhoods would be disrupted or displaced by the proposed freeways. Such 'revolts' occurred in many U.S. cities, such as Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Portland, Seattle, Washington DC, Cleveland, and Baltimore. In many cities, one can find unused highways, abruptly-terminating freeway alignments, and short stretches of freeway in the middle of nowhere, all of which are evidence of larger projects which were mothballed."
The whole list of all the cancelled or unfinished projects is all there:
-"The Laurel Canyon Freeway (CA/SR-170) would have sliced across western Hollywood, the Mid-City West area, and western Inglewood en route to its terminus at the San Diego Freeway (I-405) near Los Angeles International Airport. It was scrapped in the face of community opposition from these districts and its namesake Laurel Canyon. Only the portion traversing the Baldwin Hills was finished, later being designated as La Cienega Boulevard.
-"The Beverly Hills Freeway (CA/SR-2) would have run from the Hollywood Freeway (US-101) in southern Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Westwood along the alignment of Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. It went through several proposed iterations--including a cut-and-cover tunnel--before its mid-1970s abandonment in the face of opposition from residents of Beverly Hills, the Fairfax District, and Hancock Park.
-"The Slauson Freeway (CA/SR-90), originally known as the Richard M. Nixon Freeway and intended to run across southern Los Angeles and northern Orange counties between the Pacific Coast Highway (CA/SR-1) and Riverside (CA/SR-91), was truncated as a result of opposition to its construction through South Central Los Angeles. The only portions completed to freeway level are the short Marina Freeway that runs between Marina del Rey and southern Culver City and the Richard M. Nixon Parkway in Yorba Linda.
-"The Glendale Freeway (CA/SR-2) terminates roughly 1.5 miles northeast of its intended terminus at the Hollywood Freeway (US-101), due to opposition from residents of Silver Lake.
-"The Pacific Coast Freeway (CA/SR-1) would have upgraded the existing Pacific Coast Highway to freeway standards. Opposition by residents of Malibu, Santa Monica, and the coastal cities of the South Bay region led to the project's abandonment. One segment, between Oxnard and the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, was built in the 1960s before the project was abandoned.
-"The Redondo Beach Freeway (CA/SR-91) would have linked the Pacific Coast Freeway in Redondo Beach or the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Torrance to the Long Beach Freeway (I-710). Opposition by Redondo Beach and Torrance led to its truncation to its current terminus at the Harbor Freeway (I-110) in Gardena; the California legislature subsequently renamed it the Gardena Freeway.
-"The Century Freeway (I-105), itself the subject of an unsuccessful freeway revolt in Hawthorne, South Central Los Angeles, Lynwood, and Downey that lasted nearly two decades, was truncated at the San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) instead of its intended terminus at the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) due to opposition from the city of Norwalk. One of the compromises allowing the freeway to be built caused the inclusion of a mass transit line in the freeway median. This is the LACMTA Green Line, which opened with the freeway in 1995.
-"The Long Beach Freeway (I-710) was originally intended to go from the port complex all the way north to Pasadena, linking up with the Ventura and Foothill Freeways (SR-134 & I-210), completing a bypass of Downtown Los Angeles to the east. The freeway was completed to just past I-10 in Alhambra, and a half-mile stub was built in Pasadena (still unsigned, but officially SR-710). Opposition came from the small city of South Pasadena which would have been cut in half, eradicating its small but lively downtown. A six mile gap currently exists and Caltrans is still attempting to build some sort of link, the latest idea of which has been a pair of tunnels.
"Opposition to the building of the 710 extension through South Pasadena has, for some 30 years, resulted in the suspension of plans to build an extension from the 210 freeway through West Pasadena and South Pasadena. The ramps exist and a stub is in place at California Avenue, but much of the land taken for the freeway has been resold by CalTrans to private parties. In 2006, the idea of completing the freeway by means of an underground tunnel was first proposed. This idea is currently under a funded study by the LACMTA.
"A proposed rehabilitation and widening of the aged Long Beach Freeway (I-710) between the Pomona (CA/SR-60) and San Diego (I-405) freeways, which would have demolished over 2000 residences in five cities and one unincorporated area, created such outrage that Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) abandoned it within days of its unveiling in 2004. Caltrans and MTA have issued a new plan that would use MTA-owned utility right-of-way along the Los Angeles River and require the taking of fewer than ten residences.
-"During the 1980s, Caltrans proposed extending the Orange Freeway (CA/SR-57) from its terminus at the "Orange Crush" interchange to the San Diego Freeway (I-405) by means of an elevated alignment along the bed of the Santa Ana River. Pressure from environmental groups led Caltrans and the Orange County Transportation Authority to abandon the plan."
It may have been fashionable activism in the 1970's, but you can see how L.A. is now paying the price for these cancellations and unfinished projects. It may have been the idealistic thing to do back in the environmentalist movement mindset of the 70's, but it wasn't exactly the best or the most forward-looking thing to do.
The answer to the above questions is, of course, that you can't.
-"The Laurel Canyon Freeway (CA/SR-170) and The Beverly Hills Freeway (CA/SR-2) would have been the answer to the questions above. As it is, they were scrapped, and L.A. now has a pretty mess on its hands.
So what do you do now?
If you create "speed corridors" on all major roads going East-West, North-South traffic is going to get pretty jammed without these two cancelled freeways.
The only possible answer is to build overpasses and pedestrian skywalks on Centinella, Sawtelle, Sepulveda Blvd., Westwood Blvd., Santa Monica Blvd. (intersection with Wilshire Blvd.), La Cienega Blvd., Crescent Heights Blvd., at all the points of intersection with Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico and Venice Blvds. to keep traffic moving North-South.
See my posts: WHY L.A. traffic sucks: OPEN DISCUSSION #3 and WHY L.A. traffic sucks: Open Discussion #6: Pedestrian Under/Overpasses - for more on this issue.
Short of this, you can
-dream of a subway or a monorail within 20 years;
-you can move to a less congested city;
-or, if you work permits it, you can just stay at home and telecommute, work from home, and not go anywhere except when traffic dies down after 9:00pm at night.
You can also push for the transformation of the city into a more walkable, bikeable, scooterable, motorcycleable, publictransportable city.
Or move to El Segundo! The city of El Segundo seems to be that kind of a place, nudged there between a major international airport (LAX) and a refinery (Chevron), it seems to be the kind of community where you won't have to drive much to get around. And if you do, there's hardly any traffic. It's probably L.A.'s best kept secret. They even have a FREE trolley Mon-Fri to bring business people from the Sepulveda business area to downtown El Segundo for lunch. Like in the rest of L.A., it's best if you have a car, but if you don't, MTA buses take you to the Green Line, which can then take you to other connecting points. Not advisable if you're pressed for time, but not bad, either.
Or you can just do this...
Los Angeles [Swiss846]
Live with it! I guess...
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Monday, October 08, 2007
SPEED CORRIDORS: North-South
Sunday, May 14, 2006
DRIVING TIPS: SMART FOXES vs. HERDS OF SHEEP.
How do you get from A to Z? Driving tips to bypass heavy traffic and get there on time. SMART FOXES vs. HERDS OF SHEEP.
The powers-that-be in L.A. need to start finding ways to redirect traffic to UNCLOG freeways and main roads (see my post "WHY L.A. traffic sucks: that "monster," the 405 freeway..."). And angelenos need to stop being herds of sheep clogging the freeways and main roads and start thinking of CREATIVE ways to bypass traffic. There are OTHER WAYS of getting there. Believe me. Forget your high school geometry. In L.A., the shortest distance between two points is NOT a straight line.
Suppose you are in Marina del Rey (Washington at Pacific) and you need to get to West Hollywood by 6:00 and it's 5:00pm. How do you make it?
Take I-10 East, exit La Cienega North and voila`?!? That'll take you two hours, if you're lucky! That's the herds of sheep way. That's WHY is is CLOGGED. What's the SMART FOX way of getting there?
Some people swear by Venice, others swear by Olympic. The truth is, neither is a good alternative unless they implement my idea of turning them into "virtual freeways" by keeping the lights GREEN for a longer period of time (5 to 10 minutes).
Here's what you do.
You are on Pacific and Washington Blvd. right by the ocean. And you're starting to despair (I'll never make it!!"). Take it easy. Have no fear, italianesco is here, and will tell you how to get there in no time at all.
Go East on Washington Blvd. Make a left on Lincoln. Go past Venice Blvd. And then--careful! don't miss it!--make a right on PALMS. Yes, PALMS!! Go east on Palms. At Penmar, Palms jogs. So make a right on Penmar and then an immediate left right back onto Palms. But STAY ON PALMS! After Walgrove, Palms widens a bit and starts getting wonderful. And the most important thing: up to now, NO traffic! NO traffic at all!!
And here's the truly, really WONDERFUL THING ABOUT PALMS: unlike a lot of other small streets, Palms has an OVERPASS over the 405!!! Can you believe it? An overpass!!! Go right over it, and once you are on the other side of the 405, you're half way there!
Stay with us. It gets interesting...
Once you get to I-10, guesswhat? Palms has an UNDERPASS under I-10!!! An underpass! Can you believe it? Whoever did Palms was a GENIUS! Palms is L.A. DONE RIGHT. If ALL the streets that cross the 405 and I-10 were like Palms, there'd be hardly any traffic problem on the Westside. (see my post "WHY L.A. traffic sucks #2: bad (or not exactly forward-looking) design")
After I-10, you wonder, "Where in the world did lovely Palms go?!? It was great!!" Well, guesswhat? It turned into National. And National is a heavy-duty traffic street. Stay away from it! Make a left onto Castle Heights Avenue. Then make a right on Cattaraugus Avenue. Then make a left on S. Robertson Blvd. A bit of traffic here, but don't panic! As soon as you get to Olympic, MAKE A RIGHT! Here--way, way, way East of the 405--three-lane Olympic ROCKS!! Go East on Olympic and then make a left on Crescent Heights, and you've made it!! We got you there!!! And right on time! (ahem... Give or take a minute, of course... In L.A. you NEVER know...)
So that's the SMART FOX WAY OF GETTING THERE! You get on the roads that rock, not on the roads that suck! If you'd rather be stuck for two hours on I-10 East or Venice or Olympic like a herd of sheep, be our guest!! Hope you have plenty of good music with you or a good audio book, or, since you're not really going to be driving but going bumper to bumper, then, yes, why not? go ahead and talk on your cell phone all you want for two hours. At least, it'll keep you sane... That's what sheep do when they are in a herd, anyway, go "beehhhhhhhhh!!" The SMART FOX will get there quicker than you and win the prize... No "sense of entitlement," no rudeness, just smartness. That's all it takes...
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Friday, May 12, 2006
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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Wednesday, May 03, 2006
WHY L.A. traffic sucks: OPEN DISCUSSION #3
calwatch has left a new comment on your post "WHY L.A. traffic sucks #2: bad (or not exactly forward-looking) design ":
Once again, this idea [keeping light GREEN from 3 to 5 minutes for long stretches over many intersections] , while interesting, ignores the fact that at those side streets there are cars and pedestrians that want to cross the street. And they won't be able to do so in the hours you mention. The Laurel Canyon Freeway (SR-170) and the Beverly Hills Freeway (SR-2) were really the solution to this problem, but you can blame Jerry Brown for that cancellation. I'd like to see a test, though, on Wilshire for a five minute green time similar to roads in Orange County and the Inland Empire, and watch what happens.
Posted by calwatch to L.A. traffic sucks: Let's fix it! at 4/27/2006 11:54:32 PM
italianesco replies:
Thanks again for your new comments.
No, I did not ignore "the fact that at those side streets there are cars and pedestrians that want to cross the street. And they won't be able to do so in the hours you mention." I did say that some kind of north-south uninterrupted traffic would have to be allowed for traffic to flow east-west uninterrupted. Overpasses, or better, underpasses, might solve this problem. The pedestrians can EASILY be take care of with skywalks or pedestrian crossing tunnels. Many American cities already have them and use them.
Yes, I, too, would "like to see a test [...] on Wilshire for a five minute green time similar to roads in Orange County and the Inland Empire, and watch what happens." But I'd like to see it not only on Wilshire but on Olympic, on Pico and on Venice as well (Santa Monica seems too complicated to try it there). This is the thing: no one seems to be willing to try any really INNOVATIVE ideas. At the same time, they don't realize that old and tired ideas (widening freeways, building subways, etc.) will not work. Or they might work temporarily but not in the long run. An overweight person might take a pill to lower his cholesterol. But unless he changes his lifestyle and starts to diet and exercise to get those arteries flowing, he is doomed. American metropolitcan areas are doomed to gridlock unless they start trying something new.
I wasn't aware of the Laurel Canyon Freeway (SR-170) and the Beverly Hills Freeway (SR-2) projects you mentioned, nor was I aware that Jerry Brown had been responsible for their cancellation. This should give you an idea of the DAMAGE that politicians in office can cause to the future of a city, a state, a country. Jerry Brown was in office a long, long time ago, wasn't he? I am amazed at the lack of foresight. Politicians and constituents seem to be caught up in the present and lose sight of what things might be like 20 years down the road. Whatever solutions are adopted to solve the traffic problem in L.A. should envision a city of L.A. 20 or 30 years from now. How will the current system be able to handle 3, 5 or 10 million more cars? SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE.
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