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Old 12-25-2013, 12:21 PM
 
Location: Las Vegas
22 posts, read 46,744 times
Reputation: 16

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I've been asked to drive a friend around on New Year's Eve and some upcoming Friday nights. This will be exclusively within Santa Monica (not east of the 405).

What is traffic like in SM itself? Gridlock on Fridays (if so, what hours to avoid)?

I may be driving from 4 pm to 3 am, on NYE. Will I be driving in 'pulling my hair out' gridlock traffic the whole time?

Or will it be just fine since I'm not leaving SM ?

Please help advise a newbie to SM.

Thanks very much!
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Old 12-25-2013, 01:30 PM
 
4,213 posts, read 8,307,390 times
Reputation: 2680
The city of santa monica is pretty small and has a ton of routes to go within the city. You never need to be stuck in traffic for long since there's lots of ways to get around.

For example, going north/south you have Ocean Ave, 4th Street, 7th Street, Lincoln, 11th, 14th, 17th, 20th, 26th/Cloverfield. East/west you have San Vicente, Montana, California, Wilshire, Arizona, Santa Monica Blvd, Broadway, Colorado, Olympic, Pico, Ocean Park. If one doesn't work, get on another.

NYE might be a nightmare to drive in for reasons besides traffic.
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Old 12-25-2013, 03:09 PM
 
Location: Las Vegas
22 posts, read 46,744 times
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Thanks for the tips. Good point about the alternate roads. Should I expect the main streets to usually be gridlocked from 4 to 8 pm on Fridays? If so, perhaps I should study the map & memorize the alternative streets.
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Old 12-25-2013, 03:55 PM
 
4,213 posts, read 8,307,390 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vegas4poker View Post
Thanks for the tips. Good point about the alternate roads. Should I expect the main streets to usually be gridlocked from 4 to 8 pm on Fridays? If so, perhaps I should study the map & memorize the alternative streets.

It all depends but Lincoln, Wilshire, and Santa Monica Blvd have the best chance of getting gridlocked. Because those 3 streets lead to far away destinations (LAX for Lincoln and DTLA for the latter two), while a street like Broadway or Arizona stays more or less in the santa monica city limit.

That's why travel WITHIN santa monica is always easy, but travel out of it can be hell.
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Old 12-27-2013, 01:30 AM
 
Location: Southern California
4,451 posts, read 6,800,191 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vegas4poker View Post
I've been asked to drive a friend around on New Year's Eve and some upcoming Friday nights. This will be exclusively within Santa Monica (not east of the 405).

Thanks very much!
Driving a friend around NYE , I expect to hear the stories afterwards. Using and crossing any of the main streets will suck between 4-7pm. Traffic on streets is like going from 30mph to 15mph, it is not that bad compared to freeway going from 65 to 10. Places will take a few more minutes to get to and you hit a bunch of speed bumps because you are not the first person looking for a short cut. Speed bumps , NYE, someone needing to be driven around, I hope they don't make a mess in your car.
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Old 12-27-2013, 11:51 AM
 
Location: Santa Monica, CA
1,626 posts, read 4,014,679 times
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I live in Santa Monica and I agree that even if it's bad it won't be that bad if you're staying within the borders Santa Monica. Where it gets bad is when you're going from Santa Monica to downtown or Hollywood or something like that. Traffic on 12/25 and 12/26 has been extremely light in LA so it very well could be the same around New Years. Parking is another story though...
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Old 12-27-2013, 02:06 PM
 
4,213 posts, read 8,307,390 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dunbar42 View Post
I live in Santa Monica and I agree that even if it's bad it won't be that bad if you're staying within the borders Santa Monica. Where it gets bad is when you're going from Santa Monica to downtown or Hollywood or something like that. Traffic on 12/25 and 12/26 has been extremely light in LA so it very well could be the same around New Years. Parking is another story though...
This week and next week will be pretty light since a lot of people are off work and school. But New Years Eve is gonna be a nightmare at least in the early evening hours.
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Old 12-29-2013, 09:16 PM
 
22 posts, read 50,077 times
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Default traffic

what is traffic like going from Santa Monica to West Hollywood in mornings around 6 - 7am?

how about going back around 6- 7 pm?

thanks!
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Old 12-30-2013, 09:01 AM
 
4,213 posts, read 8,307,390 times
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6-7 am will be light traffic.

6-7 pm is gonna be moderate to heavy traffic, especially along santa monica and wilshire blvd.
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Old 12-30-2013, 12:11 PM
 
Location: Las Vegas
22 posts, read 46,744 times
Reputation: 16
To my surprise, on 5 pm yesterday/Sunday, Broadway & Colorado between 4th and Ocean near the Promenade were TOTAL gridlock. 10 minutes to go from one signal to the next if I was lucky.
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