How dangerous is I-5?

[brocklesnar69]

In general? (From 'very' NorCal)

But mostly between 8:00pm - 7am? (Between these hours 'during night' is when I would drive down)

I am kinda afraid of the traffic. Is it very hecktic during these hours? What about through the grapevine? Is it safer just to stay in the slow lane? I guess you could say I have kind of a phobia of getting into car crashes. Am comfortable with my own abilities, just afraid of L.A. and SoCal drivers (Have heard horror stories about how people down there drive)


Any advice?

 

[SilverCeladon]

I also live in Norcal and if you're driving the "redeye" there should be no problems. You just want to make sure you're not in LA for morning rush hour traffic-but leaving at 8pm you should make it through just fine.

 

[DL4my2kids]

I think it depends on the time of day and time of year. I am from Nor-Cal and drive down. I have driven both day and night and have never had any trouble. We typically leave on Saturday or Sunday for our drive down so there is no rush hour traffic anywhere for us. I may have gotten lucky though too because we run into very little truckers as well.

 

[Vanvmom]

Mostly truck drivers on the road after about 10pm. From the foot of the grapevine until the summit (Gorman, just past Frazier Park) the far right 2 lanes are where the semis are restricted to. I would avoid those lanes during that part of the drive if driving makes you nervous. The worst part of the drive is a ways past Valencia & Burbank when the left lane of 5 shoots off toward Pomona. The right lanes are also dividing off at that point, and to stay on I5 south you need to be in the middle lanes (I prefer the left one). That area is a bit nutty with people doing last minute lane changes to get to the freeway they want, but if you hit it during the very early morning hours you should be fine. That's the only part of the traffic that makes me crazy. Well... you also have to be prepared for other drivers to drive in excess of 70mph south of Stockton until Bakersfield.

We live between Sac and Stockton. One trip I was already at DL with DSs, and DH left town on a Fri. night with another family we were vacationing with at about 8:30p. They ran into zero traffic and arrived in DL at about 3am. Thank goodness I had already "checked" them into their hotel room (of course they did have to wake me up to get their room key).

 

[jocotter]

I don't think it's bad at all, especially if you have someone with you to watch the map and for exits, etc. If you are alone, then really study the map before you go, so you don't have to try and look while driving. I think Southern California freeways are surprisingly easy to navigate outside of rush hour.

 

[biolabetty]

If the 5 through LA makes you nervous, there are other routes you can take that will take longer, but they wouldn't be on the 5. I've noticed quite a bit of road construction going on on the 5 through parts of LA lately, and they usually do the work during the nighttime. One thing that I think helps people navigate through LA is to know that the freeways not only have numbers, but they also have names. The 5 is also called the Golden State Freeway, the 60 is the Pomona Freeway, and so on. My mother-in-law learned the hard way that she needed to know both of the names, and got totally lost in a pretty bad part of downtown.

Freeways also can be closed down due to accidents, my daughter was driving on one last week and found it to be completely closed and they were taking cars on to the surface streets. That's all fine and good, but there was no way to know where she was going on the streets, or how to find the next freeway she was trying to connect to. Get maps of the freeway system!!! It's really not that scary, but you should have knowledge of where you want to go.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

. The 5 is also called the Golden State Freeway, .

yes and it changes to that name right after you go over the grapevine but somewhere in the middle the name changes to the Santa Ana Fwy...as long as you stay in the Golden state fwy and get on santa ana fwy and stay there you will have no problems...you just have to pay attention...right around echo park area is where I think it changes to santa ana fwy and there is one lane for that switch...right in the middle...so keep your eyes open and you will get through it fine

 

[quadaunt]

I don't know how much you travel, but if your vehicle doesn't already have a GPS then investing in a portable GPS such as Tom-Tom or GARMS might be beneficial to you. Just plug in all the addresses ahead of time where you will be going on your trip and it will literally talk you through your directions along the way. What's nice about the portable GPS is that you can even take it on a bike ride. I'm not a fearful driver, but my Tom-Tom definitely makes driving less stressful when I'm in unfamiliar territory.

I used to travel to southern California frequently on business and, while I found the traffic heavy, I never found it difficult to navigate around the freeways (or "expressways" as we call them here in Michigan ) as long as I had my GPS.

 

[lisadoll93]

Santa Ana = Anaheim. I know that makes no sense but thats how I remember when to switch freeways. As far as traffic on the 5, we typically hit it about San Feliz to Sante Fe Springs but once we hit Orange county, smooth sailing.

 

[jlmarr]

The various freeway names in the area are all relative to Los Angeles, so for instance the I-5 south of LA is called the "Santa Ana Freeway" because that's the freeway you take to get to Santa Ana (and points beyond and in between, but you get the idea). North of LA the I-5 is called the Golden State Freeway because that takes you to the central and northern parts of California, the "Golden State". Similarly the I-10 is the Santa Monica Freeway west of LA, and the San Bernardino Freeway east of LA. It should really be the Jacksonville Freeway, but let's not make things too complicated.

 

[brocklesnar69]

Thanks for all the feedback!

But lets say that I arrive in Anaheim between 4am & 7am... will the Hotel let me go ahead and go to my room? What if I call first and ask?

(I will probably be staying at one of the hotels directly across the street of DL. Carousel or Marriott or Best Western or Ramada)

Thanks...

 

[blackjackdelta]

yes and it changes to that name right after you go over the grapevine but somewhere in the middle the name changes to the Santa Ana Fwy...as long as you stay in the Golden state fwy and get on santa ana fwy and stay there you will have no problems...you just have to pay attention...right around echo park area is where I think it changes to santa ana fwy and there is one lane for that switch...right in the middle...so keep your eyes open and you will get through it fine

Lynn: Where have you been.?

Kinda just have to go with the flow and god forbid you leave a breaking space in between cars, someone will take it in less than 30 seconds.

Jack

 

[blackjackdelta]

Thanks for all the feedback!

But lets say that I arrive in Anaheim between 4am & 7am... will the Hotel let me go ahead and go to my room? What if I call first and ask?

(I will probably be staying at one of the hotels directly across the street of DL. Carousel or Marriott or Best Western or Ramada)

Thanks...

I doubt they are going to let you go directly to your room unless you paid for the night before. They will probably hold your bags. Really depends on room availability and the place you stay.

Jack

 

[disneegrl4eva]

Lynn: Where have you been.?

Kinda just have to go with the flow and god forbid you leave a breaking space in between cars, someone will take it in less than 30 seconds.

Jack

hey jack havent been on alot but when I am Im mostly on the hyena thread...when you going to DL? soon yeah? and you are kidding about breaking a space i never let that happen

 

[THREEBOYSONLYGIRL]

If You Havent Decided On The 5 Fwy,there Are A Few Other Alternatives You Can Take. The 5 Fwy Has Gone Under Some Widening And Is Really Quite Nice To Drive ( On This Side Of La) In The Middle Of The Night Just Mind Your Own Business Going Thru La And You Wont Have Any Problems. ( In Other Words Dont Try And Make Friends On The Fwy) Ha