Best Route to Avoid I5 Construction Traffic?

[egritz]

Years ago a wise member on this board recommended taking 210E to the 605S to the 91 E to the 5 as great way to save about 30 minutes of drive time by avoiding the I5 Construction.

Is that still the best route? Or is something better once you get over the Grapevine? Google always tells me to stay on I5 and usually Google is pretty good at traffic predictions....

 

[ParkHopper1]

Use Waze. Everything else is just a guess.

 

[egritz]

Use Waze. Everything else is just a guess.

I thought Waze just interfaced w/ Google Maps?

 

[ashley0139]

I thought Waze just interfaced w/ Google Maps?

It does, you can use either. I prefer Google maps. Definitely use it though.

 

[Elsaspiritanimal]

I thought Waze just interfaced w/ Google Maps?

Waze is way better. Google maps will keep me on I5 and just wait it out. Waze actually will take you on side roads to avoid construction or other slow downs.

 

[Kender]

Waze is way better. Google maps will keep me on I5 and just wait it out. Waze actually will take you on side roads to avoid construction or other slow downs.

Google maps does this too... Catch is you have to accept the new route. It's usually something like "new route found that saves X minutes; would you like to accept?".

Even three years ago Google took me on a fun side adventure when there was more traffic than usual on 5. It was entirely all side streets with a lot of fun things to see like a giant horse statue I didn't know existed.

I've found both work very much the same in my experience testing both. It really just comes down to preference.

 

[pharmama]

Waze is owned by Google and does feed some of the real time traffic reporting into Google maps but it seems like Google maps doesn't recommend some of the crazier surface street routes that Waze does.

As someone who lives in a neighborhood that Waze recommends as a "shorter route" when a nearby highway is congested I try to be sensitive to cutting through residential areas on shorter routes recommended by navigation apps. When Waze is routing through our neighborhood it can take an extra 20+min for residents to get out since there are limited exits. And since it doesn't happen every day, you never know if its going to take 5 minutes to get my kid to soccer practice (or whatever) or 30 minutes. At the end of the day those shorter routes often save the Waze driver 10 minutes or less.

 

[ParkHopper1]

Both use the same back end system. Goggle maps will get you there quickest but keeping you on the major freeways and thouroughfares where Waze will route you the quickest possible option even if it means taking you off the beaten path and though neighborhoods.

 

[StormyCA]

I just drove I5 from Sacramento to DT LA on 10/26 and there really weren't any construction backups or slowdowns.

 

[gary1955]

I just drove I5 from Sacramento to DT LA on 10/26 and there really weren't any construction backups or slowdowns.

I think the construction concern is in the south LA county section before you get to Orange County. how is that project going? last time I was through it looked like the worst of it has passed.

 

[Nonsuch]

Years ago a wise member on this board recommended taking 210E to the 605S to the 91 E to the 5 as great way to save about 30 minutes of drive time by avoiding the I5 Construction.

I have taken this route many times, but have been stuck in traffic on the 210 East after Pasadena. This part of the freeway can be just as bad as the 5, particularly on Friday afternoons (when I tend to arrive). This is my usual route (in reverse) driving home (around noon).

Waze and other real-time-traffic apps do not monitor the HOV lanes, so they cannot fully optimize the route.

 

[egritz]

I have taken this route many times, but have been stuck in traffic on the 210 East after Pasadena. This part of the freeway can be just as bad as the 5, particularly on Friday afternoons (when I tend to arrive). This is my usual route (in reverse) driving home (around noon).

Waze and other real-time-traffic apps do not monitor the HOV lanes, so they cannot fully optimize the route.

Good point about HOV lanes. We ended up following Google which (for once) actually recommended 210.

 

[CallieMar]

After the one time it took us 4 hours to get to the Grapevine on the way home, I said never again.

On the way to DL we always do 210E to 57S and exit at Katella. I always check traffic conditions on Google maps just in case, but this is almost always faster unless you're coming down in the middle of the night (and one time we were stuck on I-5 at 2am because an accident shut down the whole freeway!!)

 

[Tedwash]

coming in to SoCal to get to Disneyland there is secret or cool way to get around L.A. Traffic. I make this drive from Bay Area to Orange County every other week for the past 3 years.
Just follow your Google Maps or Wayz map as it adjusts dynamically to the the traffic in real time. I hardly take the same route twice in a row.

 

[ButterflyKisses77]

The annoying thing about Waze is that it’ll literally take you on like 6 different freeways just to save you about 7 minutes when you could have just taken the 101 to the 5 and it would’ve been so much less confusing. Google maps isn’t much better. Do you guys think it’s really worth it?? I never know anymore

 

[ParkHopper1]

The annoying thing about Waze is that it’ll literally take you on like 6 different freeways just to save you about 7 minutes when you could have just taken the 101 to the 5 and it would’ve been so much less confusing. Google maps isn’t much better. Do you guys think it’s really worth it?? I never know anymore

Regardless of which app you never wanna just blindly follow it. Waze has a “routes” feature that will calculate alternatives then you can decide if the proposed route is worth it or not. There are indeed times that the 6 min savings is not worth it, but all the info is there.

Trust but verify