LA Traffic Patterns ?

[xipotec]

Ok Californians or those with experienece.

I need to know what the legendary LA traffic patterns look like to keep travel in the car to a minimum time. I am no stranger to traffic having lived on Long Island and traveling into Manhattan during rush hours.

Here are some routes we are taking. The travel times vary by as much as 2 hours for each trip! Curious what the real deal is.

1. LAX to Malibu on a Saturday after noon?
(Traffic levels?) (Times to go?)

2. Beverly Hills to Laguna on Monday a morning?
(Traffic levels?) (Times to go?)

3. Anaheim to LAX (flight leaves at 11am)
(Traffic levels?) (Times to go)

Many thanks to any advice you can give on traffic patterns , weekday versus weekend. Tylical rush hours and Highways to avoid in favor of local roads (even if it does not save any time. I would rather drive local than sit on a freeway.

 

[Ross Kratter]

Fellow Long Islander here who commuted into Manhattan 4-5 days a week for years.
LA traffic is 100% unpredictable. I would never have imagined that a freeway 7 lanes wide in each direction could come to a complete stop, but I've seen it multiple times in LA. Weekends are not as bad as weekdays.

 

[DLgal]

What day of the week is Anaheim to LAX?

 

[xipotec]

What day of the week is Anaheim to LAX?

What day of the week is Anaheim to LAX?

Friday AM.

 

[xipotec]

a

Fellow Long Islander here who commuted into Manhattan 4-5 days a week for years.
LA traffic is 100% unpredictable. I would never have imagined that a freeway 7 lanes wide in each direction could come to a complete stop, but I've seen it multiple times in LA. Weekends are not as bad as weekdays.

Any suggestions? I would often take surface roads around the LIE and Southern State to get around the MeadowBrook during peak times. It didnt save much time, but the scenery was better and at least you were moving.

 

[Ross Kratter]

a

Any suggestions? I would often take surface roads around the LIE and Southern State to get around the MeadowBrook during peak times. It didnt save much time, but the scenery was better and at least you were moving.

Honestly, I just use Google Maps and/or Waze.

 

[xipotec]

Honestly, I just use Google Maps and/or Waze.

Yup, Google maps esimates the travel from LAX to Malibu at our arrival time as

from 55 minutes to 2 and 1/2 hours……..

Thats mind blowing to me on a Saturday at 10:30am

 

[Ross Kratter]

Yup, Google maps esimates the travel from LAX to Malibu at our arrival time as

from 55 minutes to 2 and 1/2 hours……..

Thats mind blowing to me on a Saturday at 10:30am

That is, however, indicative on how wildly LA traffic can vary at any time, any day.

 

[xipotec]

That is, however, indicative on how wildly LA traffic can vary at any time, any day.

 

[wabbott]

One thing I try to do before traversing a metro area is to monitor google maps or waze on comparable days and times to get a feel for traffic patterns. Do this several days or weeks b4 you travel. Last year, we rolled out at 2 AM to get through the Dallas/Ft Worth traffic prior to morning rush. Awful early, but we got to our destination in the early afternoon.

 

[DLgal]

Concur with using Google Maps. I like it a LOT better than Waze. Google is so darn accurate. Just use to to navigate everywhere and DO WHAT IT SAYS. It will always steer you to the fastest route.

The unpredictability of LA traffic comes down to accidents, in the absence of special events or holidays.

Surface streets are RARELY a better option than the freeway, although there are smaller highways that are often better than the interstates. For example, it's often better to take HWY 91 between Anaheim and LAX vs the 105. This is where Google comes in. It will tell you in the moment which is the best route.

With that said:

1. LAX to Malibu. This one you really don't have too many options of routes. I recommend 405N-10W-1N. Do NOT attempt to take Hwy 1 the whole way. You will be in the car for 3 hours. Go as early as possible.

2. Beverly Hills to Laguna on a Monday Morning: this one will be a beast, and will try your patience. 405S to 133S is the most direct. If you want to add a scenic portion along PCH (the 1), take 405S to 39S at Huntington, then 1 south all the way to Laguna. Just that stretch on 1 might take you an hour, though. Leave after 9am or before 7am.

3. Anaheim to LAX for an 11am flight: leave by 7am.

 

[China Expat]

Sorry to say the traffic has become a mess 7 days a week, all hours.You have to check times the day of.

 

[Gladys Belcher]

Totally agree with DL Gal with the times and routes.

Keep a watch on Google maps. Traffic always changes. Yup, Anaheim to LAX = leave early or take a direct shuttle bus and avoid the headaches.

 

[Steven G]

My experience has been that in LA, all times are bad. Some times are just much much worse.

You can be driving at 10am, or 2pm, or 8pm, and the traffic is still intense. When I first drove there, I just wondered to myself, don't these people have a job?

Assume that for every 30 miles of highway road, it will take anywhere from 60 minutes to 2 hours on average.


There are multiple reasons for the bad traffic:

1) Accidents
2) Too many highways (paradoxically, because there are so many highways, there are so many intersections of those highways with each other, and those intersections typically cause the worst traffic)
3) Merging of lanes/Merging of Highways (this has to do with #2 as well as just merging in general). It is very common for a 4 lane highway to get reduced to 3 lanes for a short to long distance, and that causes traffic. Alternatively, two (or 3) highways sometimes merge into one highway, and all the approx 4 lanes per highway that used to exist for those 2 or 3 highways , get reduced to 4 for all of them.
4) Construction
5) Sheer amount of people on the roads at all times of the day

My "favorite" merge is the "5", "10" and "101" just east of downtown. 3 MAJOR highways do a complex dance, where to the east of this interchange, 101 ends and becomes part of 5, and to the north of this "5" and "10" join temporarily for a couple miles. You also have highway 60 as well as part of this depending on the direction you are going. Because of the number of lanes and highways merging, some of these major highways actually go down to TWO lanes during this madness.

 

[Gladys Belcher]

^^ BINGO on the traffic. It's a gamble any day of the week. 5-10-101 merge is a hoot!

Leaving between 4-5 AM would be the best bet if you want to drive 'fast'. Agree on Google Maps navigating 'up to date' information.

Add another 90 minutes to 2+ hours if you want to get to LAX. (Then you get to have more 'fun' at the check in etc.....)

Do hope you have a safe trip

 

[xipotec]

Concur with using Google Maps. I like it a LOT better than Waze. Google is so darn accurate. Just use to to navigate everywhere and DO WHAT IT SAYS. It will always steer you to the fastest route.

The unpredictability of LA traffic comes down to accidents, in the absence of special events or holidays.

Surface streets are RARELY a better option than the freeway, although there are smaller highways that are often better than the interstates. For example, it's often better to take HWY 91 between Anaheim and LAX vs the 105. This is where Google comes in. It will tell you in the moment which is the best route.

With that said:

1. LAX to Malibu. This one you really don't have too many options of routes. I recommend 405N-10W-1N. Do NOT attempt to take Hwy 1 the whole way. You will be in the car for 3 hours. Go as early as possible.

2. Beverly Hills to Laguna on a Monday Morning: this one will be a beast, and will try your patience. 405S to 133S is the most direct. If you want to add a scenic portion along PCH (the 1), take 405S to 39S at Huntington, then 1 south all the way to Laguna. Just that stretch on 1 might take you an hour, though. Leave after 9am or before 7am.

3. Anaheim to LAX for an 11am flight: leave by 7am.

Awesome post. I am not a stranger to traffic having grown up on Long Island. BQE anyone?

I have always been a fan of leaning extra early rather than sit in traffic.

Those route suggestions are great.

I have been stalking Google maps to see how patterns are during those times….It does seem very very unpredictable.

The only drive that I cannot afford to be late for is obviously the flight out.

So if we need to leave at 6am thats fine.

 

[NVDISFamily]

Having grown up in So Cal and playing the LA traffic game for a good 20+ years before escaping to Nevada all I can tell you is that there is no more “good traffic” time during any reasonable daylight/“normal” hours. “Back in the day” you could fly thorough LA going 70 to 80 MPH between 10am and 2pm (ish) most days unless there was major construction or a bad accident. Now expect that time to be busy and it’s just random if your small trip will take “normal” time or 3x that amount.

I will say that if you happen to be able to carpool then you will likely have better luck and will be able to go a reasonable speed in those lanes for most of the trip during the middle of the day if you can travel those times. Sadly most of these don’t have direct carpool lanes at the interchanges between highways so on those you have to merge over and wait in traffic if the roads are busy. Good luck with your trip.