Least favorite freeway stretch In the L.A. area

[nexus73]

It's funny reading in the present about the Riverside Freeway being so bad these days.  When I was stationed at March AFB in 1974-75, I found the 91 was the easiest E-W route for dealing with traffic.  The San Berdoo (I-10) was packed.  The Pomona (SR 60) was just getting finished a bit west of the city of Riverside.  The 210 wasn't completed.  Sp when it was daytime and I wanted to go west, I'd use the Riverside Freeway and buzz right along without a care, then use the 605 for my N-S axis since it was relatively quiet compared to 5 or 405 as I navigated around SoCal.

How times have changed...LOL!  More people and not much for new E-W routes since then have clogged up all the routes.  At least the 210 is almost done as we await the finishing touches in San Bernardino where it connects with I-215 and then for AASHTO to allow for resigning the SR 210 as an Interstate.

As for 280 in the Bay Area, it is a very attractive freeway.  I first drove it in the mid-70's and found it to be spectacular at that time.  I can see why Agentsteel likes it so much!

Rick

P.S. I find this thread to be extremely entertaining and informative!

[agentsteel53]

As for 280 in the Bay Area, it is a very attractive freeway.  I first drove it in the mid-70's and found it to be spectacular at that time.  I can see why Agentsteel likes it so much!

the other reason I like it so much is because of the high-speed curves.  I've done the road averaging 95mph between San Jose and San Francisco, and it's not uncommon during the off-peak hours to see cars doing 130-140.

well, as of several years ago.  now there's Highway Patrol all over that road.  California needs the money!

[bulkyorled]

the other reason I like it so much is because of the high-speed curves.  I've done the road averaging 95mph between San Jose and San Francisco, and it's not uncommon during the off-peak hours to see cars doing 130-140.

well, as of several years ago.  now there's Highway Patrol all over that road.  California needs the money!

Ah that makes me think of both sides of the 5 between San Clemente & Oceanside. Coming and going from San Diego everytime I've been through there everyone was going 100+ the entire way. Going less than 95 meant you were in the way.

[agentsteel53]

Ah that makes me think of both sides of the 5 between San Clemente & Oceanside. Coming and going from San Diego everytime I've been through there everyone was going 100+ the entire way. Going less than 95 meant you were in the way.

that's also fairly heavily patrolled now.  Speed of traffic is about 78, and I feel like the reason for that is that cops have their radar set to beep on 80.

[realjd]

Well everyone northbound has to make up time lost waiting an hour to present their papers to Comrade Border Patrol Officer.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

There's a border patrol station on that part of I-5? When we drove back home after going to Legoland in Carlsbad,  I saw no such thing. If not, then does I-5 have any agricultural inspection area between LA and San Diego?

On topic, I don't really like I-5 between downtown and the Orange County line. So much traffic and under-maintained. Such a big contrast to I-5 south of the county line. I'm just saying this as I haven't really been on much LA freeways, being from Central California.

[bulkyorled]

Ah that makes me think of both sides of the 5 between San Clemente & Oceanside. Coming and going from San Diego everytime I've been through there everyone was going 100+ the entire way. Going less than 95 meant you were in the way.

that's also fairly heavily patrolled now.  Speed of traffic is about 78, and I feel like the reason for that is that cops have their radar set to beep on 80.

Figures! Take all the fun outta driving down there and making it in an hour!

[realjd]

There's a border patrol station on that part of I-5? When we drove back home after going to Legoland in Carlsbad,  I saw no such thing. If not, then does I-5 have any agricultural inspection area between LA and San Diego?

Yes, there is a border control checkpoint on I-5 north of Oceanside for northbound traffic. I'm not a local but I do spend a large amount of time in Carlsbad for work, and I'd say it's open around half the time I make that drive. If you look on a map, you'll see an exit for Camp Pendleton a few miles north of Oceanside. North of that exit the northbound lanes are fenced off on both sides leading to a covered awning over the road. When the checkpoint is open, they set up stop signs under the awning. If you don't look Mexican, they usually wave you on. Once I was asked my citizenship and where I was going, mainly to give them time to run a drug dog around my car. If you look suspicious they divert you to secondary and do a full search of your car. I've never had that honor, but judging by the folks with their cars being searched, I don't match their target demographic.

There is also one on the 15 near Temecula for northbound traffic from San Diego, as well as two in the 8 for traffic in both directions, one in/out of San Diego and one in/out of Arizona.

It's not an agriculture check; it's an inland border control checkpoint run by the CBP and the courts have ruled that your 4th amendment rights against unreasonable searches do NOT apply due to national security concerns.

[blawp]

Meh. We don't get hotly political over tea party garbage here in cali

[CenVlyDave]

There's a border patrol station on that part of I-5? When we drove back home after going to Legoland in Carlsbad,  I saw no such thing. If not, then does I-5 have any agricultural inspection area between LA and San Diego?

On topic, I don't really like I-5 between downtown and the Orange County line. So much traffic and under-maintained. Such a big contrast to I-5 south of the county line. I'm just saying this as I haven't really been on much LA freeways, being from Central California.

Yeah, I-5 is a real mess south of downtown LA to Buena Park.  Now, they are finally starting to do roadwork to improve that stretch, but it's gonna take forever to get done!

[KEK Inc.]

The 5 between the stack interchange and the 91.

[realjd]

Meh. We don't get hotly political over tea party garbage here in cali

Tea party garbage? All the San Diegoans I know (from both parties) resent the fact that they can't leave their city by car without having to go through government checkpoints, and I have one friend who fits their profile and is basically forced to carry his passport with him or else go through the whole ordeal where they "verify his citizenship" and use the opportunity to tear his car apart. Plus, I'll bet stoner college kids and medical marijuana patients both hate the fact that the federal checkpoint has drug dogs and enforces federal, not state, drug regulations.

The tea partiers I work with here in Florida fully support the checkpoints because they "stop illegal immigrants and terrorists".

This particular discussion on checkpoints may be better continued in the "Off-topic" section.

[agentsteel53]

your 4th amendment rights against unreasonable searches do NOT apply due to national security concerns.

just ask Maryland, 1862.  it's a horrific precedent, but not an old one.

the rights of the state outweigh the rights of the people.

[agentsteel53]

Figures! Take all the fun outta driving down there and making it in an hour!

if you can make it from LA to San Diego in an hour, I will personally congratulate you.  let's say the East LA interchange to the 5/163 junction.

[bulkyorled]

Figures! Take all the fun outta driving down there and making it in an hour!

if you can make it from LA to San Diego in an hour, I will personally congratulate you.  let's say the East LA interchange to the 5/163 junction.

Well perhaps that was a little exaggerated. Maybe I meant from the bottom tip of LA County to the tippy top of SD county and with a backwind pushing me haha But it always did go way faster than I expected. I remember the first time I did it, I was going about 110 and there was a van behind me going near the same and a Mercedes to the left of me going slightly faster.

Google maps says from LA Center (1st & Main) to San Diego Center(?) shown as 8th Av & Broadway is 120mi so I suppose if I was going 110 I technically could have made it in slightly over an hour  Im babbling of course... obviously I was going 110 the whole way and uh yea well anyways. 

[hm insulators]

405 through the Sepulveda Pass.

I've never driven that stretch. It's worse than the 405 through Long Beach?

Yes! I've driven that stretch over the Sepulveda Pass numerous times when I lived in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley. Actually, it's not just over the pass--the entire 405 from LAX all the way into the San Fernando Valley is just one nasty congested mess!

[kkt]

just ask Maryland, 1862.  it's a horrific precedent, but not an old one.

the rights of the state outweigh the rights of the people.

In 1862, we were at war and it looked like we might well lose.  Now we're giving up our 4th amendment rights in order to keep latinos from harvesting crops in the central valley.

[OCGuy81]

I should add most any stretch of the 405 in LA County to this list.  Curious to see if Carmageddon 2.0 goes over as well as its predecessor.

[LA_MetroMan]

After reading the various comments here, I wonder if the thread's title should have been "Best LA Area Freeways" since there seems to be so few of them...LOL!  If that was the thread, I'll put in state route 2, the Glendale Freeway.

Rick

Ahh, I remember that road when it was just a little baby. Beautiful new bands of concrete opening next week and I was unemployed with a new motorcycle. Within a week, I was tooling eastbound on the 210.

As I approached the new transition ramps to the 2/South, my heart beat faster. There was maybe 1 or 2 cars around and no one was turning onto the transition road but me. I picked up the speed to about 85, then 90 as I completed the curve to the sweeping view of Los Angeles downtown and the incredible downhill grade ahead. 100, 120, and it was 130 that I feared the speed. By the time crossed the 134, I slowed it to 100, then hit the Golden State at a respectable 60.

To this day, that's still the fastest I've ever gone and care to go on a motorcycle.

[agentsteel53]

the original 1959 signs on 2 southbound approaching 5 are still around. 

I don't think I've ever gone faster than about 108 on any LA freeway.  even late at night, traffic counts prohibit it.

[LA_MetroMan]

THE CENTURY sitting atop the 405South/105East, STOPPED for a friggin traffic light. Nothing more frustrating. This is a FREEWAY!

[agentsteel53]

THE CENTURY sitting atop the 405South/105East, STOPPED for a friggin traffic light. Nothing more frustrating. This is a FREEWAY!

wait, there's a traffic light from 405 south to 105 east?  I don't remember that.  is it a ramp meter light?

I've always thought it a bit strange that there were ramp meter lights for the 2 north to 210 west transition.  I figure that once you're on the freeway, you should not be stopped again until you decide to get off.  (there's also signalized freeway-to-freeway connections like 78 west to 5 south, 56 east to 15 south, and then the monstrosity of 5 north to 56 east.)

[myosh_tino]

THE CENTURY sitting atop the 405South/105East, STOPPED for a friggin traffic light. Nothing more frustrating. This is a FREEWAY!

I'm assuming you're referring to the metering lights at the end of the ramp?

Up here in the S.F. Bay Area, we have freeway-to-freeway ramp meters on north and south CA-17 to southbound CA-85, southbound CA-87 to southbound CA-85, northbound US 101 to northbound CA-85 and eastbound CA-92 to northbound I-880 just to name a few.

[LA_MetroMan]

THE CENTURY sitting atop the 405South/105East, STOPPED for a friggin traffic light. Nothing more frustrating. This is a FREEWAY!

Ramp Meter, Traffic Signal, Swinging Stop Sign, guy in bright green vest with swinging stop sign - It's all the same .  A traffic light on a freeway,  pfffffft.

That light is just before the merge into the 105. If you look at the current GOOGLE map, you can see cars stopped on the NB405-EB105 ramp.

I DO remember the 2/210 light as well, but have always had a green on that one.

[NE2]

Pfft. How about a ramp meter on a mainline? https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5031