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While it would be chaotic if they completely shut down a long stretch of Interstate in any city, having tons of road work going on and lanes closed are an unfortunate part of living in Atlanta every weekend just about in nice weather...
But - when you live in a city of millions with traffic like L.A., or for that matter Atlanta, Houston, etc... the roads don't repair themselves. If you want to drive on them, they have to be maintained.
This weekend has been absolutely great so far! The freeways in la are wiiiide open. The media hoopla has really made people stay home haha. They should do this more often.
Not sure what you are talking about. There are pats of California where people haven't seen their roads repaired in over 30 years.
Not saying that you're wrong and obviously (given the study that you linked) you aren't the only one with this opinion, but I'm curious as to where we are lacking. I've driven pretty much everywhere in the US and I just don't see it. Where would you say that our infrastructure has deteriorated to a level that Illinois wouldn't allow? Our freeways and bridges have to be meet standards that yours wouldn't because of earthquakes. We've built lots of new rail lines and even new freeways over the last two decades.
We do have potholes, but not anymore than most places. They are repaired quickly on freeways and slower on surface streets. Especially since the recession started. I'd say that we have a much smaller pothole problem than most northern cities because most of our freeways are concrete and we don't have ice.
Not saying that you're wrong and obviously (given the study that you linked) you aren't the only one with this opinion, but I'm curious as to where we are lacking. I've driven pretty much everywhere in the US and I just don't see it. Where would you say that our infrastructure has deteriorated to a level that Illinois wouldn't allow? Our freeways and bridges have to be meet standards that yours wouldn't because of earthquakes. We've built lots of new rail lines and even new freeways over the last two decades.
We do have potholes, but not anymore than most places. They are repaired quickly on freeways and slower on surface streets. Especially since the recession started. I'd say that we have a much smaller pothole problem than most northern cities because most of our freeways are concrete and we don't have ice.
When I drove from Boston to LA in '02, I recall driving through an area of South Chicago where the roads were worn down so bad that they were literally dirt with a few bumps of ashphalt. The whole area was pretty blighted in its own right, but there was lots of traffic going down the road on both sides and it seemed to be an obviously-used thoroughfare. Anyone have any idea what street that was? I'm sure they repaired it at some point in the last ten years, but it had obviously not been repaired at all in at least a few decades. I've never seen anything like that in CA, unless it was a ghost town.
Not saying that you're wrong and obviously (given the study that you linked) you aren't the only one with this opinion, but I'm curious as to where we are lacking. I've driven pretty much everywhere in the US and I just don't see it. Where would you say that our infrastructure has deteriorated to a level that Illinois wouldn't allow? Our freeways and bridges have to be meet standards that yours wouldn't because of earthquakes. We've built lots of new rail lines and even new freeways over the last two decades.
We do have potholes, but not anymore than most places. They are repaired quickly on freeways and slower on surface streets. Especially since the recession started. I'd say that we have a much smaller pothole problem than most northern cities because most of our freeways are concrete and we don't have ice.
I don't speak for everyone, but I can tell you when I moved to L.A. from Portland a few years ago one of the first things I noticed was the poor condition of L.A.'s freeways. In certain sections the road was so bumpy it was obvious the freeway hadn't been paved in years(decades?). In Portland even the busiest roads were almost always smooth.
Friend posted that picture up yesterday evening, during Saturday rush hour
Aside from the 405, everything else seems to be green.
Yesterday, I got from my house to Newport Beach (70 miles away) in an hour. Usually it takes an hour and a half.
I got to LAX in 30 minutes, when it usually takes 45 even WITH the 405 open.
They should do this more often. I actually like getting around this fast. However, if we advertise it too much, people will start being more lighthearted about it and everyone will be out again
When I drove from Boston to LA in '02, I recall driving through an area of South Chicago where the roads were worn down so bad that they were literally dirt with a few bumps of ashphalt. The whole area was pretty blighted in its own right, but there was lots of traffic going down the road on both sides and it seemed to be an obviously-used thoroughfare. Anyone have any idea what street that was? I'm sure they repaired it at some point in the last ten years, but it had obviously not been repaired at all in at least a few decades. I've never seen anything like that in CA, unless it was a ghost town.
Yeah, I-80 through the south burbs of Chicago use to be the last real pile of crap of the metro expressways/tollways up until a few years ago. It was embarassing because it's such an important road. It intersects with 8 other insterstates through the southern part of Chicagoland.
They rebuilt the Kennedy Expressway, Lakeshore Drive, the Stevenson, Wacker Drive, the Tri-State Tollway, the North-South Tollway, the Northwest Tollway, the East-West Tollway, and repaved other sections of Lakeshore as well as the Eden's and the Eisenhower Expressways.
I-80 was AWFUL. Potholes, only 6 lanes and constantly backed up for miles.
There's still a lot of traffic, but they finally rebuilt everything from the ground up like they did the city expressways and tollway network. It was billions of dollars and many years of hell, but the finished product is much better. They basically threw their cards in and doubled the size of the interstate in many areas. It's now 8-12 lanes wide through both the Illinois and Indiana sections of Chicago. It was a joint project between both states.
Why will the shut down of 405 in Los Angeles be any different from a total shutdown of a stretch of highway in any other major city? Would it be a Carmegeddon if 10 miles of highway was shutdown in New York City, Chicago, Houston or Philadelphia? How do other cities manage to get through total freeway shutdowns without it turning into a Carmegeddon?
For a few reasons. For one the 405 connects the Valley to West LA and it almost functions like a bridge except that it goes over the mountains instead of over water. Secondly our freeways are generally more crowded than other places. While rush hour traffic is pretty comparable everywhere, our rush hours are much longer and we have more traffic off peak than most places. We can have bumper to bumper traffic on a Saturday afternoon or at 9pm for no reason at all. Just traffic.
Caltrans was saying that if there was no notice given and they just shut the freeway down without so much as a warning that traffic would be expected to back up 50 miles in either direction.
As it turns out all freeways that I saw were wide open all weekend. Midday traffic looked more like 2am traffic. It was pretty incredible. Of course what might happen is that when they need to shut the freeway down again next year, people will recall how overhyped "carmageddon" was and ignore the warnings to stay away.
I don't speak for everyone, but I can tell you when I moved to L.A. from Portland a few years ago one of the first things I noticed was the poor condition of L.A.'s freeways. In certain sections the road was so bumpy it was obvious the freeway hadn't been paved in years(decades?). In Portland even the busiest roads were almost always smooth.
Which freeways? Asphalt or concrete? Concrete freeways are going to be bumpier, but they are almost a necessity out here given the geographic conditions and traffic volumes. They won't give you that smooth gliding feeling, but it's just a different surface and not indicative of neglect. However if you see lots of potholes where you are, then that's a different story.
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