405 Traffic -- Any City Councilmen Deserve to Keep Their Job? (Los Angeles: rental, insurance)

[James T]

The traffic on the 405 is outrageous. On which afternoons is there not heavy conjestion? Los Angeles is obviously overbuilt. We do not have the infrastrcuture to support all the people living here. Yet what does the city council do? From the L.A. cityview show, it looks like they spend more than half their time handing out accolades, RATHER THAN SOLVE THE TRAFFIC PROBLEM by stopping development.

[James T]

p.s. Rocky Delgadillo sucks. Just had to throw that in...

[DontH8Me]

I was going to counter your top post with "what about the recent light shed on the antics of our City Attorney???" but I see you beat me to it. I can't believe this guy can even show his face in public anymore with all the dirty deeds coming out of the woodwork. One would believe that as a City Attorney, he would symbolize our moral compass but in fact he and his wife are no better than all the other criminal driving around with suspended licenses, no registration, and no insurance. I think we should give a mother of the year award to his lovely wife.

And yes, the 405 cannot support the amount of cars that are used on it on a daily basis. I'll tell you which afternoon there isn't heavy congestion - the day when they hold a huge rally downtown to support legalization of illegals. Why we have too many folks here is due to the tendency to over-occupy residences. The folks who live across the street from me have 6 adults and 5 vehicles in one SFR. Of course they don't park their cars in the garage because some of the occupants live in it, so all the cars are parked on the street making it nearly impossible for anyone to find a spot to park. If this is an indication of how it is everywhere, then naturally the 405 and all other freeways have way more to contend with than they did when the city planners designed these freeways. With the COL what it is and with the ridiculous housing prices I can understand why one house is shared by three whole families. It seems that people are willing to sacrifice living in a humane way just to stay here instead of looking elsewhere where they could pay a fraction for a rental and not have to sleep ten to a bedroom.

[SandyCo]

I think our local government is useless. It doesn't help, though, that people who live on the west side don't seem to want any mass transportation project. It's the NIMBY sentiment (Not In My Back Yard). It took me 45 minutes once to drive from downtown to West L.A. on Wilshire Blvd. at lunchtime on a weekday, and that was over ten years ago. I'm sure it's much worse now.

[EscapeCalifornia]

The only hope for the 405 is to double or quadruple deck it. Its funny how as population grows, other utilities are expanded to serve it except for roads. Imagine if we still had just one area code for 1/2 of California. For way too long, the government took the "if we don't build roads, people won't come here" attitude. Guess what? We now have a 1960's infrastructure serving several million people too many.

[greggd]

I live near the 405 freeway in west los angeles and it has been getting worse and worse each year. The expansion they are completing is really not going to make it any better either.

Twice a week I have to travel from brentwood to westwood at about 6pm.
It takes from 30-45 minutes to go about 5 miles via sunset blvd because
people who live in the San Fernando Valley and beyond cut through to get to the 405. 3 hours later the return trip home is 10 minutes.

I would like to see a rail line down the 405 and 10 frwys with toll booth at mulhulland $5.00 a car solo occupant, $2.00 2 or more occupants. Have a monthly pass system as well like they have on the toll roads.

[cynwldkat]

I for one would sure hate to see the mess if there was a major catastrophe in L.A. that required people to evacuate the whole area....it just could not be done!!! So far they've been lucky..but luck only goes for so long!!

[sgfludd]

Seriously - remember a few months back when the crane fell on the North Bound lanes of the 405 in Sherman Oaks. It was insanity. One little blip - and it creates major havoc.

[zzyzxddyzx]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

The only hope for the 405 is to double or quadruple deck it. Its funny how as population grows, other utilities are expanded to serve it except for roads. Imagine if we still had just one area code for 1/2 of California. For way too long, the government took the "if we don't build roads, people won't come here" attitude. Guess what? We now have a 1960's infrastructure serving several million people too many.

You're right about the city being in need of some vertical growth. The question then becomes are Los Angelinos willing to give up their big yards, big cars? .

A related LA Weekly article (May 30th): LA Weekly - General - What's Smart About Smart Growth? - David Zahniser - The Essential Online Resource for Los Angeles

[Rats]

Originally Posted by sgfludd

Seriously - remember a few months back when the crane fell on the North Bound lanes of the 405 in Sherman Oaks. It was insanity. One little blip - and it creates major havoc.

look at what happened to the 15 freeway when they closed the 15/215 interchange. commute times for people who live up in hesperia/victorville doubled, from 2 to 4 hours each way!