Headlines About California Highways - June 2019

[djsekani]

Nice set of headlines, thanks for posting. 

The article on the 405 is bizarre, as it is hardly the worst freeway in American and IMO not even the worst freeway in LA. Again, IMO, I-110, I-10, I-5, and US 101 any where near downtown LA are more congested than the 405 for more hours of the day.

The example of the Olympics in 1984 is interesting, but the traffic volumes in that era were way lower than today.

I-405 gets most of its reputation from having one of the highest traffic counts in the country and for things like Carmageddon.   I would agree that there is certainly far worse freeways in America and you can definitely make a reasonable argument for the freeways in downtown Los Angeles being worse.  My personal opinion is that the Kennedy Expressway is the worst freeway in the country.  I-405 compared to crap like the Kennedy Expressway is infinitely more we'll managed and has better carrying capacity.  I've had more trouble on the US 101 portion of the Hollywood Freeway in my own personal experience out of anything around Los Angeles.

The Sepulveda Pass section of I-405 is still to this day the most complained about stretch of freeway in the area, with the Santa Ana Canyon section of CA-91 coming a close second. I imagine this is likely due to the volume of vehicles they carry during rush hour; driving on either at 5pm is a misery-inducing experience.

Still, there are other area freeways that are nearly as congested for far more hours of the day. Leading the pack would be the Hollywood section of US-101; the stretch heading south towards downtown is one that I have never seen flowing freely, not even at 3am on a weeknight. The I-215/CA-60 multiplex through Riverside is another dumpster fire that seems to be jammed eternally. Finally I-105 is heavily underrated for being garbage; the constant stop-and-go wears out my leg muscles every time.

[RZF]

Nice set of headlines, thanks for posting. 

The article on the 405 is bizarre, as it is hardly the worst freeway in American and IMO not even the worst freeway in LA. Again, IMO, I-110, I-10, I-5, and US 101 any where near downtown LA are more congested than the 405 for more hours of the day.

The example of the Olympics in 1984 is interesting, but the traffic volumes in that era were way lower than today.

I-405 gets most of its reputation from having one of the highest traffic counts in the country and for things like Carmageddon.   I would agree that there is certainly far worse freeways in America and you can definitely make a reasonable argument for the freeways in downtown Los Angeles being worse.  My personal opinion is that the Kennedy Expressway is the worst freeway in the country.  I-405 compared to crap like the Kennedy Expressway is infinitely more we'll managed and has better carrying capacity.  I've had more trouble on the US 101 portion of the Hollywood Freeway in my own personal experience out of anything around Los Angeles.

The Sepulveda Pass section of I-405 is still to this day the most complained about stretch of freeway in the area, with the Santa Ana Canyon section of CA-91 coming a close second. I imagine this is likely due to the volume of vehicles they carry during rush hour; driving on either at 5pm is a misery-inducing experience.

Still, there are other area freeways that are nearly as congested for far more hours of the day. Leading the pack would be the Hollywood section of US-101; the stretch heading south towards downtown is one that I have never seen flowing freely, not even at 3am on a weeknight. The I-215/CA-60 multiplex through Riverside is another dumpster fire that seems to be jammed eternally. Finally I-105 is heavily underrated for being garbage; the constant stop-and-go wears out my leg muscles every time.

Don't even get me started on I-210 heading East from Pasadena to the Inland Empire. You can always count on stop-and-go traffic the whole way anytime between 3PM-8PM.