LA traffic not that bad?

[elhelmete]

All data aside for a moment, I feel like I know exactly what the OP is referring to and I agree completely.

In LA, there are so many different commute patterns (home vs. work) that in the aggregate I fully understand why studies often show our traffic to be the worst. But it's also entirely possible for many, many people to have commutes which don't experience crushing traffic. On the flip side it's also frequent to experience bizarre traffic at unexpected times in unexpected places.

On the whole, though, I don't mind it as much as being on an east coast highway, for example, knowing you're 10 miles backed up to a bridge or something and there are no local road options.

[harhar]

I've never lived anywhere else, but LA traffic can be horrendous, or it can be easy to deal with.

Certain areas of the Westside can be a nightmare. It took me an hour to get down Bundy, and some of the other Westside streets can be pretty bad in the morning. Westwood can be pretty bad, especially when school is in session.

It also took me about 45-1hr on average to get from Mid-Wilshire to Los Feliz during rush hour, that's about 7 miles.

Freeway time can vary. During rush hour it would take about 1 to 2 1/2 hours to get home from Anaheim to Los Feliz. Most times I'd take the 5 all the way. Other days I'd have to take the 57 to the 60, or the 91 to the 710, or the 110. This all depended on traffic, accidents, weather, etc...

Sure, the 105 can sometimes be a breeze, because it almost always is.

But I agree with the poster above that one reason why it might seem better is because we have more options. There rarely is just one place we go and one route to get to that place.

[infinitekid]

city streets are even worse in some areas, try getting to the 405 after 5pm in Santa Monica

[theraven24]

Thank you all!

[munchitup]

I think the OP is wrong and LA traffic is horrible. I could see NYC having worse, I don't see how DC's would be worse as I think their freeways are newer and they have better transit and is a much lower density metro. There is a ton of construction on DC's freeways so I guess I could see the traffic being worse there while improvements are made (ala 405 while the NB carpool was being built).

However I will say I was pretty surprised at how light traffic is on the 110 between Pas and DTLA (especially after the 5) - perhaps people avoid it because it is so windy and relatively low-speed?