Los Angeles is the worst city in the U.S. for traffic (West Hollywood: vehicle registration, insurance)

[John23]

If LA was smart, 20 or 25 years ago, we could have had some world class highways by now. It's funny how you have all this engineering prowess....UCLA? UC Irvine? USC. But the roads are terrible.

We're light years behind in infrastructure and efficiency.

[CALGUY]

I very rarely use the freeways because of the traffic on them, but Saturday I had to run out to woodland hills, from South Pasadena, on the #101.
From where the #170 (hollywood frwy) and #101 meet, the average speed was 21 mph til I got to the Topanga exit, and many time traffic came to a complete halt.
I saw no signs of any accident that would normally tie up traffic.
There is definitely some thing wrong with this picture.
Way to many vehicles in this city.
I remember when the #101 only had two lanes in each direction, and when the first project started to add a lane, it was said that the project would take care of the traffic problems for years to come.
As soon as the lanes were completed, plans had to be made for more lanes.
The solution is not more lanes, but less vehicles.
Driving in California, and Los Angeles in particular has got to be curtailed in one form or another.
I have been a strong advocate of having a numbered sticker on a vehicle, and that number would correspond to a day of the week.
On the day of the number on your rear window, you would not be allowed to drive your vehicle.
The only exceptions would be medical, law enforcement, and military.
I really think it is coming to this.
Bob.

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by CALGUY

I very rarely use the freeways because of the traffic on them, but Saturday I had to run out to woodland hills, from South Pasadena, on the #101.
From where the #170 (hollywood frwy) and #101 meet, the average speed was 21 mph til I got to the Topanga exit, and many time traffic came to a complete halt.
I saw no signs of any accident that would normally tie up traffic.
There is definitely some thing wrong with this picture.
Way to many vehicles in this city.
I remember when the #101 only had two lanes in each direction, and when the first project started to add a lane, it was said that the project would take care of the traffic problems for years to come.
As soon as the lanes were completed, plans had to be made for more lanes.
The solution is not more lanes, but less vehicles.
Driving in California, and Los Angeles in particular has got to be curtailed in one form or another.
I have been a strong advocate of having a numbered sticker on a vehicle, and that number would correspond to a day of the week.
On the day of the number on your rear window, you would not be allowed to drive your vehicle.
The only exceptions would be medical, law enforcement, and military.
I really think it is coming to this.
Bob.

yes, traffic sucks here, but i think you need dust of your tin hat a bit. your idea to limit driving is more evasive than 'obamacare'. people will continue to drive here no matter what. what we really need are better alternatives, whether that be working from home, bus, rail, etc... driving is freedom, people will not allow this to be limited.

[CALGUY]

Unless forced too, people in Los Angeles metro , will never get out of their cars, and thinking they will take public transportation is a laugh in itself.
The only ones taking public transportation in the city, are people who don't drive to begin with.
The people who take public trans in the suburbs do it because it is to expensive to drive to their work destination.
When I first came to Los Angeles, in 1970, it was not uncommon to see people driving 70 too 80 mph on any of the freeways, and that was at most times.
Now, it is just impossible to navigate if one is using the freeway system.
The only solution is to restrict days when people can drive.
On any given day I think it would take well over a million cars of the freeways with the numbered system, and that would cut down on wear and tear of the roads, and cut pollution.
The other positive is, it would force people to carpool.
Next time you are on the freeway, just take a look at the people in the vehicles around you.
Most, if not all, have only one person in them.
That is absolutely crazy.
Bob.

[Mr. Opinionated]

And why not? Unlike other high population cities, Los Angeles is for better or worse, essentially a carcentric society. Ever notice all the wide dissecting freeways and boulevards? Cars sell well in L.A. because they are and always have been adorned as status symbols. It may now be an archaic mindset. But it is the reality one must acknowledge while approaching traffic volume resolution in Los Angeles.

[CALGUY]

Originally Posted by Mr. Opinionated

And why not? Unlike other high population cities, Los Angeles is for better or worse, essentially a carcentric society. Ever notice all the wide dissecting freeways and boulevards? Cars sell well in L.A. because they are and always have been adorned as status symbols. It may now be an archaic mindset. But it is the reality one must acknowledge while approaching traffic volume resolution in Los Angeles.

The reality is, status symbol or not, this city MUST curtail it's love affair with the automobile, and restrict it's use because of over population.
Our roads and freeways are no longer capable of handling the huge amount of vehicles, and in years to come, it is only going to be compounded by more people moving into the state.
With the budget problems facing the state, building bigger freeways will never be done, so the only viable solution is to curb the amount of vehicles on any given day that clog the roads and freeways.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
No one likes change, and most want to remain in the status-quo, but it is time to get to some sort of solution.
This just can't go on indefinitely.
Bob.

[blind spot]

Hey, I'd love not to drive to work, but it would take me three hours at a minimum to take public transit into work (I've checked) and about 45 minutes to drive. It takes my BF 45 minutes on a bus to go what is a 15 minute drive normally. When he worked in a different city the bus ride was an hr and 15 minutes (it included a transfer) yet the drive was only 25 minutes. You can't seriously suggest we lose all that time in order to take public transit. Hell even getting to LA from where we live would take forever and require multiple transfers, and the cost of that adds up. (for leisure, I mean).

Now having said that, I would love not to have to drive! If public transit was easier and didn't eat up so much time I would be happy to use it. When I visit other cities (San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Chicago, for example) I don't drive at all. I am all about their transit. And it does take a little longer to get where I need to go, but not anywhere near as bad as it would here. We're talking an extra 20-30 minutes as opposed to hours. It sucks here, big time

Edit: I do notice the congestion of freeways. The traffic that comes at all hours of every day, even weekends. Some freeways, like the 105 eastbound are clogged and stop and go at 3pm. I mean come on. There's not even a rush hour here, it's more like...between 6am-9 or 10am, traffic congestion, then at 2pm, expect some congestion, by 3pm forget it, and it might still be clogged up at 7 or 8pm. What the hell is that about? It was a huge adjustment when I moved here. I am from an area with defined rush hours. I remember killing time at school, sticking around til 6pm or so rather than sit in traffic at 430-5, knowing that at 6 the traffic would start to clear and I would make good time going home. But here? Forget it. Sometimes I wonder if its because so many people were able to adjust their working hours...so now you're no longer beating the traffic, since so many other people have the same hours.

[alexey_b]

Hi, I'm from Russia, Moscow.
I was in LA two weeks ago and I want to say that in USA in general and particular in LA the traffic management is excellent.
I live in Moscow and I spend 4-5 hours each day to drive from home to office and back.
So, everything is comparative

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jacobwilliam77

No surprise here...

The 20 cities with the worst traffic in North America go far beyond Los Angeles | Motoramic - Yahoo! Autos

these studies change every other month it seems, but, we all know L.A. is really bad; no decent rapid transit doesn't help. People in So Ca are in love with driving and thier cars and so many live outsde miles from where they work because the city and metro area is so spread out.

I doubt you will see these charts change too much in our life time. I will add one thing: we have lived in the Los Angeles area, Dallas and DC. The drivers in So Ca are probably better and more considerate. At least most of them are from Ca. In DC and Dallas there are so many transplants, everyone drives differently and the Dallas area might be considered southern, geographically but the drivers do not use southern hospitality...

[SandyCo]

My son has to work in Compton starting today for four days (training), a mere 33 miles down the 405 and east on the 91. He's leaving early so he can beat traffic on the way there, but on the way home he has no choice but to suffer. If public transportation were an option I'm sure he'd gladly take it, but it just isn't feasible considering where he's going.