The Road Less Traveled? Not Since Waze Came To Los Angeles

[bing101]

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/06/13/481871496/the-road-less-traveled-not-since-waze-came-to-los-angeles


This is an Update in how traffic is managed in LA in the App era.

[sparker]

Welcome to the end of "bounded rationality" as we knew it!  Back around 1970, when I was an undergraduate, I had a school buddy who lived on Scadlock (a street parallel to & a few blocks west of Cody, cited in the article); only a few locals plus some Valley residents who could actually read the gray lines on a local Gousha map knew about the alternate routes across the Santa Monicas, including coming up north on Roscomare from Bel Air, making a lateral move west for a couple of blocks on Mulholland, then turning north on Woodridge, Scadlock, and other north-south "ridge routes" up to Sherman Oaks.  Once there, those who knew how to navigate the Valley would head over to Kester -- the trick was to use "intervening" arterials -- the ones without interchanges at 101 or, for east-west travel, 405; those tended to clog earlier with exiting traffic. 

405 rush hour traffic was atrocious back then, even though that section of the freeway was only 7-8 years old; and, of course, Sepulveda bore the brunt of those seeking an alternate route to the Valley (the line-up to enter the single northbound lane of the summit tunnel was both astounding and amusing).  But even then enough folks knew about the local-street through routes to the east; when I came up Roscomare during the most congested times, there was never more than 20-25 yards separating each of the line of cars heading up the hill; the traffic flow dissipated once Mulholland was reached, with most heading east to Beverly Glen and thence down to Van Nuys Blvd.  But despite the best efforts of the locals to disguise the egress to these streets, experienced Valley drivers found these shortcuts -- without the help of apps!  I suppose it just became a matter of time until anyone with a phone could navigate these hillside byways, turning them into virtual main thoroughfares.  I'm just glad I'm out of L.A. (although San Jose is hardly a picnic in any sense!).