Interstate 15 north of Barstow to the State Line

[FredAkbar]

That's when you take a deep breath, turn on the adaptive cruise control, put on an interesting podcast, and relax. You really can't change the stupid drivers around you. If you can, you get off the road, find something interesting to munch, and let the other drivers deal with the road boulders.

Perhaps it is age, but I'm finding the 5 to 10 minutes you get there isn't that significant, unless you're running late for a show/meeting -- and in that case, (a) leave earlier (unless stymied by a slow moving spouse), and (b) you're probably not on one of these long-haul roads in the first place, you're on the 101 in Hollywood instead.

To each their own. I prefer to keep my average speed high to shorten the drive. Those small wins add up; the difference between averaging 65mph and 80mph can save you an hour or more on a long drive (e.g. Bay Area to Vegas/LA).

[ClassicHasClass]

This is my situation every single time I drive on I-5. 

I drive CA 99 on purpose for my Central Valley runs. I hate playing truck-dodgem.

[Max Rockatansky]

This is my situation every single time I drive on I-5. 

I drive CA 99 on purpose for my Central Valley runs. I hate playing truck-dodgem.

Even the four lane part of 99 in Tulare County doesn't have this issue.  Usually you can by a trucks in a handful of minutes and might have 3-4 cars lined up. 

[cahwyguy]

That kind of driving is just plain exhausting.  There are dedicated OHV roads which wear me out less than some of the bumper to bumper 60 MPH stuff that happens I-15 and I-5.  My brain feels like it can't function afterwards and my shoulders tend to get super stiff from the constant battle.   

I'm a pretty fit guy, but I don't feel like I should be exhausted on a segment of highways between Las Vegas and Barstow.  If someone like me is ending up feeling super shitty then how are the other drivers doing while stuck in the same traffic?

My brain wasn't muddled and I didn't get stiff shoulders detouring from Las Vegas down to I-40.  I rather be fresh of mind and body for the rest of the drive home beyond Barstow.  I really think that I'll be taking similar detours on Sunday Las Vegas departures going forward. 

I hear you on that -- remember, I used to commute on the 405. But there's a difference between hours of bumper to bumper (which you can generally predict with Quickmap, and then go around), and the occasional road boulder. I do know the frustration -- I remember when they had lanes closed for construction (or was it an accident) near Mountain Pass the last time I was going out to Vegas.

That's one reason why one doesn't schedule driving back from Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon. If you must leave on a Sunday, be on the road before 9am. When we're going to Vegas in August, the plan is to drive out as early Friday as possible (and to not be surprised with delays); driving back to LA on Friday should be much less of a problem.

[Max Rockatansky]

That kind of driving is just plain exhausting.  There are dedicated OHV roads which wear me out less than some of the bumper to bumper 60 MPH stuff that happens I-15 and I-5.  My brain feels like it can't function afterwards and my shoulders tend to get super stiff from the constant battle.   

I'm a pretty fit guy, but I don't feel like I should be exhausted on a segment of highways between Las Vegas and Barstow.  If someone like me is ending up feeling super shitty then how are the other drivers doing while stuck in the same traffic?

My brain wasn't muddled and I didn't get stiff shoulders detouring from Las Vegas down to I-40.  I rather be fresh of mind and body for the rest of the drive home beyond Barstow.  I really think that I'll be taking similar detours on Sunday Las Vegas departures going forward. 

I hear you on that -- remember, I used to commute on the 405. But there's a difference between hours of bumper to bumper (which you can generally predict with Quickmap, and then go around), and the occasional road boulder. I do know the frustration -- I remember when they had lanes closed for construction (or was it an accident) near Mountain Pass the last time I was going out to Vegas.

That's one reason why one doesn't schedule driving back from Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon. If you must leave on a Sunday, be on the road before 9am. When we're going to Vegas in August, the plan is to drive out as early Friday as possible (and to not be surprised with delays); driving back to LA on Friday should be much less of a problem.

Heh, if it was up to me, we would be making the return trip from Las Vegas on Monday or Tuesday.  The issue is that Jessica's work isn't as flexible as mine and she doesn't have a truckload of extra paid time off that I do. 

[cahwyguy]

We're stuck with Friday because it is a week-long timeshare interval exchange. But Friday going out should be much better than a Sunday going back, simply because the "going out" is a bit more staggered; "going back" to LA is more governed by check-out time at hotels, so everyone hits at once.

[Max Rockatansky]

That depends.  Usually we head over to Las Vegas on Friday night after work.  The freeway is busier than usual during the nighttime hours north of Barstow but not overwhelmingly so.  Typically we'll arrive around 11:30 PM or Midnight.  If we got to Barstow earlier in the night (say 6 or 7 PM) I'm sure the traffic would be substantially worse.

On my own I could avoid the Sunday rush by just getting up early.  Jessica isn't an early riser like me and doesn't want to get going until 10-11 AM.  That is literally the worst time to leave and head south on I-15.

[brad2971]

The other thing here is that California isn't going to pay to widen a road whose volume is people going to spend money in Nevada. I-15 north of Barstow holds minimal importance to California and the state has much higher widening priorities (SR 99 in the Central Valley, the remaining 2-lane section of SR 14, etc.).

I wonder where California thinks Las Vegans go on vacation.

Probably the same place where Phoenicians (and Zonies in general) go for their summer vacation: San Diego. Speaking of highway needs that a state DOT considers low-priority: You may have noticed that all the Zonie traffic hasn't come close to prompting Arizona DOT to build a freeway connection of Arizona 85 to I-8 at Gila Bend. To be fair, the Return on Investment of such a freeway connection is...not that great when factoring in Gila Bend's economy. But still...low-priority, thus Gila Bend will be the Breezewood of the Southwest for the foreseeable future.

[FredAkbar]

That depends.  Usually we head over to Las Vegas on Friday night after work.  The freeway is busier than usual during the nighttime hours north of Barstow but not overwhelmingly so.  Typically we'll arrive around 11:30 PM or Midnight.  If we got to Barstow earlier in the night (say 6 or 7 PM) I'm sure the traffic would be substantially worse.

On my own I could avoid the Sunday rush by just getting up early.  Jessica isn't an early riser like me and doesn't want to get going until 10-11 AM.  That is literally the worst time to leave and head south on I-15.

I see my preferred strategy of leaving Saturday night (Sunday morning) between 12am and 2am remains unpopular. I'm lucky my wife can sleep anywhere; she just sleeps the whole drive back.

[Scott5114]

My foolproof I-15 strategy is to arrive in Las Vegas Sunday night and leave the previous Friday morning. 

[Max Rockatansky]

That depends.  Usually we head over to Las Vegas on Friday night after work.  The freeway is busier than usual during the nighttime hours north of Barstow but not overwhelmingly so.  Typically we'll arrive around 11:30 PM or Midnight.  If we got to Barstow earlier in the night (say 6 or 7 PM) I'm sure the traffic would be substantially worse.

On my own I could avoid the Sunday rush by just getting up early.  Jessica isn't an early riser like me and doesn't want to get going until 10-11 AM.  That is literally the worst time to leave and head south on I-15.

I see my preferred strategy of leaving Saturday night (Sunday morning) between 12am and 2am remains unpopular. I'm lucky my wife can sleep anywhere; she just sleeps the whole drive back.

Even if we got on the road by 6 AM the traffic probably would be fine.  The normals don't get moving in droves until around 9 AM. 

[jdbx]

Two lanes, slow semi-trucks in the right lane and a long line of passenger cars in the left lane. Every so often, an impatient person who thought that they were smarter than the rest of us would come flying up the right lane, only to find themselves behind a slow-moving semi-truck. Then they would have to turn on their left blinker and hope a nice person would let them cut back in the line. That then caused a chain reaction of braking in the left lane, causing traffic to go from 70-80 down to 50 in seconds. This could easily cause a rear-end collision if someone wasn't paying attention.

You just described the NYS Thruway any time traffic is even slightly elevated (summer weekends, holidays, Bills games, etc.)

In addition to I-15 in the Mojave Desert and New York Thruway, this also describes I-5 through the Central Valley. Getting in that right lane to jump ahead in the queue looks so good when you're far back from the next truck, but once you've right behind the truck, it is not always easy to find a forgiving driver willing to let you back into the left lane. I would think adding a third lane would fix this sort of problem, which is why I'm hopeful any study on I-15 would consider widening and adding lanes to improve the flow. I've been stuck in this situation many times driving between San Diego and Las Vegas.

This is my situation every single time I drive on I-5.  It is maddening. I have found that often times the jam of cars in the left lane is led by some bozo traveling at or below the limit, and nobody behind them making any effort to go around them, even when there is ample opportunity.  I sit a little higher up in my pickup, so I can see when there may be an opportunity to go around, so I will often take advantage of them as they come.  It's not ideal, I'm sure some folks think I am a jerk for it, but better than sitting doing 68 MPH behind 10 other cars while the right lane is wide open.

That's when you take a deep breath, turn on the adaptive cruise control, put on an interesting podcast, and relax. You really can't change the stupid drivers around you. If you can, you get off the road, find something interesting to munch, and let the other drivers deal with the road boulders.

Perhaps it is age, but I'm finding the 5 to 10 minutes you get there isn't that significant, unless you're running late for a show/meeting -- and in that case, (a) leave earlier (unless stymied by a slow moving spouse), and (b) you're probably not on one of these long-haul roads in the first place, you're on the 101 in Hollywood instead.

I agree with you when it comes to shorter trips, the difference between 65 MPH and 75-80 MPH is less than if my wife forgot something and had to run back inside the house to grab it before we leave.  But if I am traversing I-5, I am on a minimum 300 mile trip, and those added minutes start to add up, and that's when my lizard brain starts to feel it...  Last week I had the annual tradition of driving to/from Tempe to help my daughter re-situate into a new house (senior year, so next year summer will probably be the last!), and if I play my cards right and don't get caught up in traffic or behind too many road boulders, I can make it door-to-door in just under 10 hours flat.  I'm not particularly patient when it comes to the prospect of dawdling along behind somebody when I know I have several hundred more miles to go.  Again, I know it's not rational, but my lizard brain does not have the capacity to reason in those situations.  It just wants to get to my destination.

I will also acknowledge that part of the reason why so many people linger in the left lane is due to the potholes and ruts that are concentrated in the right lane.  It's not as pronounced on I-5, but the difference in ride quality along I-40 between Barstow and Needles is pretty extreme.  I found myself bailing to the left lane quite a few times when nobody was approaching, and I'm usually pretty religious about keeping right.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm honestly surprised Arizona and ADOT get such a pass from hobby members.  The surfacing conditions on major corridors like I-40 and US 93 is among the worst in the western U.S.  Even tire chain ground I-80 over the Sierra Nevada isn't bad like those two roads.  ADOT went cheap with that rubberized asphalt and it came back to bite them. 

[jdbx]

I'm honestly surprised Arizona and ADOT get such a pass from hobby members.  The surfacing conditions on major corridors like I-40 and US 93 is among the worst in the western U.S.  Even tire chain ground I-80 over the Sierra Nevada isn't bad like those two roads.  ADOT went cheap with that rubberized asphalt and it came back to bite them. 

You are absolutely right.  The last time I drove US-93 between Vegas and Phoenix, it was horrible.  Bad enough that I actually have been avoiding it by cutting between I-10 and I-40 via Parker. The highway surfaces in the Phoenix metro area actually seem a lot better now that they have scraped off that rubberized overlay.  The worst surface I experienced in Arizona on this most recent journey would have been Vicksburg Road in La Paz county, which I suppose we can't blame ADOT for, and AZ-72 between Vicksburg and Parker.

That crummy ride and long stretch of 2-lane highway is still preferable than slogging along I-10 through the Coachella valley and the inexplicable traffic jams along I/CA-210, which is why I take this slightly longer route between Phoenix and the Bay Area.

[Max Rockatansky]

I was headed to the El Dorado Mine at Nelson this past Sunday.  That being the case I finally found the motivation to give US 95, Old US 66 and I-40 a Sunday morning try versus the San Diego 300 on departing Las Vegas on I-15.  I gotta say, the breezy nature of the 90-something mile longer drive more than made up for the frustration I typically experience on I-15.  The only issue with the routing I took was that I did run into a longer train at the grade crossing at Goffs.

I might try some of the Mojave Preserve roads between Nipton Road and I-40 when the weather cools down.  I've driven all of them but never in the context of trying to do anything that wasn't recreationally related. 

Going through Kelso works fine.

That is the idea.  Kelso-Cima Road appears to be a far better state of repair now versus when I drove it last.  I could have gone that way on Sunday via Nipton Road but there was a monsoon brewing.  We got blasted by it between Goffs and Fenner.   The Mojave Preserve isn't where I want to be while potentially facing a flash flood.

Yes, you might get stranded between two little bridges that get washed out, and not fixed for five years.

Boy, did this comment prove prophetic:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid031ZhrdYZkQqKAohyugwJEPfSwiKpdscSTReuqsqwPuU7j3FpyxucbuayLKSvodxGvl&id=100064747474175&mibextid=wwXIfr

That's exactly what I was concerned might happen on Kelso-Cima Road.