Woodland Hills commute to Century City (Santa Monica, Woodlake: to live in, moving to, design)

[jkimharris]

I may be moving to Woodland Hills and currently work in Century City. I can only imagine what my commute will be like. Can anyone shed some light on how long my commute will be on the 101 to 405? Or is there an alternate route that will cut my time?

[Charles]

During normal work hours 8-5 this will be nasty. All the alternatives (Coldwater for example) will probably be just as bad - I don't know for sure.

Probably an hour each way.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by jkimharris

I may be moving to Woodland Hills and currently work in Century City. I can only imagine what my commute will be like. Can anyone shed some light on how long my commute will be on the 101 to 405? Or is there an alternate route that will cut my time?

Even taking Topanga Canyon wouldn't cut your time by that much.

If you want to live in the southern Valley and commute to Century City then Sherman Oaks and Studio City would be much better than Woodland Hills. The canyon roads that will provide quicker commutes to Century City from the Valley are pretty far from Woodland Hills. .

[Island_OnThe_Land]

Originally Posted by jkimharris

I may be moving to Woodland Hills and currently work in Century City. I can only imagine what my commute will be like. Can anyone shed some light on how long my commute will be on the 101 to 405? Or is there an alternate route that will cut my time?

Yes, I can shed some light on this for you. I did this commute for most of 2009. It was NOT fun....but people do it and some people make even worse commutes. Though, I would never SUGGEST anyone pick this as a good work/life balance. But sometimes you just got to do what you've got to do to survive. I am happy to NOT make this commute anymore....

The times I am about to quote assume peak hour drive times: 7am to 9am, etc.

From roughly Woodlake/Ventura Bvd. to Century City in the mornings the "average" door to door time was 1 hour in the MORNINGS. In the evenings it was a little better...approx. 45 to 50 minutes.

The commute does ease up a bit in the summer with the morning commute being about 45 min to an hour. The evenings about 45 minutes.

If you want a scenic drive...sure Topanga Canyon is nice but I think it takes AT LEAST as long and possibly longer depending on day and time.

One last thing: Yes, I just plugged and chugged the 101 to the 405.....you could experiment with Sepulveda Blvd or Bevery Glen..at least the view in the canyons are nice but generally they get pretty busy too. Freeways for all thier pain are relatively EFFICIENT in getting you to where you need to go.

[BRinSM]

an old coworker did that commute and pretty much told me the same info that "island" provided. however, also know that all it takes is one accident on the freeway or fire in the hills to make that commute over 90 minutes each way. here's a secret for you and could easily save you a few minutes on the way in and the way home: use olympic blvd not santa monica blvd.

[osuzana]

It will suck at all times of the day going in both directions. Just suck it up, play some good tune and get use to it.

[Island_OnThe_Land]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

an old coworker did that commute and pretty much told me the same info that "island" provided. however, also know that all it takes is one accident on the freeway or fire in the hills to make that commute over 90 minutes each way. here's a secret for you and could easily save you a few minutes on the way in and the way home: use olympic blvd not santa monica blvd.

Yes, both good points....1) rain, accident, fire adds to the misery.

2) Use Olympic Blvd. or if you can use side streets that parallel Santa Monica Blvd. when you are trying to go from Century City to the 405 Freeway.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Island_OnThe_Land

Yes, I can shed some light on this for you. I did this commute for most of 2009. It was NOT fun....but people do it and some people make even worse commutes. Though, I would never SUGGEST anyone pick this as a good work/life balance. But sometimes you just got to do what you've got to do to survive. I am happy to NOT make this commute anymore....

The times I am about to quote assume peak hour drive times: 7am to 9am, etc.

From roughly Woodlake/Ventura Bvd. to Century City in the mornings the "average" door to door time was 1 hour in the MORNINGS. In the evenings it was a little better...approx. 45 to 50 minutes.

The commute does ease up a bit in the summer with the morning commute being about 45 min to an hour. The evenings about 45 minutes.

If you want a scenic drive...sure Topanga Canyon is nice but I think it takes AT LEAST as long and possibly longer depending on day and time.

One last thing: Yes, I just plugged and chugged the 101 to the 405.....you could experiment with Sepulveda Blvd or Bevery Glen..at least the view in the canyons are nice but generally they get pretty busy too. Freeways for all thier pain are relatively EFFICIENT in getting you to where you need to go.

Sepulveda and Laurel are the busiest of the canyon routes.

Coldwater's the least crowded. Beverly Glen's in between.

And there's nothing efficient about the 405.

From Woodland Hills, none of this will help you much, as you have to go across the Valley as well as over the hills.

[Island_OnThe_Land]

Originally Posted by majoun

Sepulveda and Laurel are the busiest of the canyon routes.

Coldwater's the least crowded. Beverly Glen's in between.

And there's nothing efficient about the 405.

From Woodland Hills, none of this will help you much, as you have to go across the Valley as well as over the hills.

The point I was making is that the 405 is RELATIVELY more efficient at moving masses of cars than a clogged 2-lane canyon road which was NOT designed for that purpose.

[Delron]

Yes but Beverly Glen will take you EXACTLY where you need to be - just west of Century City. It would be a good alternative from the 405. You might even be able to take Ventura or some better west/east surface street from Woodland Hills to it.

The commute on the 101 and 405 will be brutal, no doubt about it, as others have said.

I personally would prefer neither Beverly Glen or 405/101 as my options...I'd try to move as close to Century City as possible because the commute will be bad.