Traffic LEAVING DLR on a Weekday

[2DoubleFives]

I am wondering if anyone can give me an idea of the potential traffic situation in this scenario?

We will be heading north from DLR after our 3-day visit. This will be on a Wednesday morning in July and we will have just picked up a rental car at Hertz on W. Katella - they do not open until 8 a.m. Our plan is to get the car when Hertz opens and then head north to San Simeon to see Hearst Castle. How bad will the traffic be getting out of SoCal at that time in the morning?

 

[charmed59]

The most congested freeway in LA is the 405 during morning rush hour, which runs 8 to 9am. I wouldn't get up early to try and get stuck in that mess. Wait until 9:30 or so. It won't be smooth sailing, it is, after all, LA, but it would be better.

 

[2DoubleFives]

Thank you for that suggestion - I was wondering if leaving a bit later would be better. We can sleep in a bit and enjoy breakfast, then. I actually grew up in SoCal, but it's been decades since I've driven there.

 

[junmatno]

Thank you for that suggestion - I was wondering if leaving a bit later would be better. We can sleep in a bit and enjoy breakfast, then. I actually grew up in SoCal, but it's been decades since I've driven there.

Which freeways are you taking? It's not just the 405, the 110 is bad after the usual rush hour and there is NO CARPOOL any longer, only Fastrak. We drive it on a Tuesday to head up to US from dLR for the day and it took us almost 2 hours, and this was at 930 am.

And 5 gets backed up about 20 miles north if Anaheim all the way thru downtown LA. And this is at 11 am when we usually leave.

If you have an IPhone I would use your map as it shows Traffic. Just check it before you leave to try and devise a plan.

Before you leave home check for alternate routes to see if you can't take a different route and miss the traffic as much as possible.

Have fun! We live in Monterey County a little north of San Simeon and it's beautiful!

 

[figment_jii]

If you happen to be online around the time you're thinking of traveling, you can check Sigalert's LA area map to get a sense of the traffic. I've done that a few times as I was planning trips...check the traffic around the time I was thinking of being on the road for several days to see if a pattern emerges.

http://www.sigalert.com/Map.asp?region=Greater+Los+Angeles#lat=33.98417&lon=-118.22335&z=2

 

[2DoubleFives]

Which freeways are you taking? It's not just the 405, the 110 is bad after the usual rush hour and there is NO CARPOOL any longer, only Fastrak. We drive it on a Tuesday to head up to US from dLR for the day and it took us almost 2 hours, and this was at 930 am.

And 5 gets backed up about 20 miles north if Anaheim all the way thru downtown LA. And this is at 11 am when we usually leave.

If you have an IPhone I would use your map as it shows Traffic. Just check it before you leave to try and devise a plan.

Before you leave home check for alternate routes to see if you can't take a different route and miss the traffic as much as possible.

Have fun! We live in Monterey County a little north of San Simeon and it's beautiful!

I was planning on taking the 101. Would you recommend another route or is that one good? I was going in part for scenery and the 5 ain't got that! Right now, We plan to tour Hearst and then drive to Monterey for the night. Think that's doable? I know it's a lot if time in the car, but I was hoping the drive from San Simeon to Monterey could include some stops (Big Sur, for example).

 

[2DoubleFives]

If you happen to be online around the time you're thinking of traveling, you can check Sigalert's LA area map to get a sense of the traffic. I've done that a few times as I was planning trips...check the traffic around the time I was thinking of being on the road for several days to see if a pattern emerges.

Thanks! I will do this for sure.

 

[dina444444]

I also recommend using the app Waze.

 

[Oswald78]

I'd try to avoid going through downtown and probably just stick with the 405. The carpool lane will be an option, but will probably be slow regardless. Your best bet is to check sigalert before heading out.

 

[jina]

if you're looking at leaving Anaheim late morning (based on the prior posts) you'll probably need a tour reservation for late afternoon so you're not stressing out the whole drive as you never know when traffic will happen, but you can count on it happening. Monterey would be pushing it IMO as you'd probably be exhausted and the drive from San Simeon to Monterey is gorgeous - you may not enjoy it after such a long day. You may be better off staying down in or near Cambria (cute artist town) and do the Big Sur drive the next morning.

We drive from the SF Bay Area (near San Jose - 1.5 hrs from Monterey) to Anaheim. Our last drive home we went up 101 because 5 was so boring during our trip down. We left on a Sunday around 9am and didn't get home until 7pm (LA traffic +short stops in Santa Barbara and Pismo Beach). Our next trip we're planning to overnight in Santa Barbara since we have time to spare.

 

[2DoubleFives]

Jina - we need to be in Yosemite on the 10th, so we might have to skip Monterey, which would make me sad :-( I'll have to take a look at our options.

If I was to pick up the rental car the day before so we could leave early in the morning, what time would we need to head out to avoid the worst of the traffic and to make getting up that early worth it?

 

[jina]

I don't live in LA so I'm not familiar whether there is any time that would be good but my guess would be 6am. I just took a data point using Google Maps - it'6:50am right now on a Friday and Google says it would take 4h11m w/o traffic but right now it would take 4h59m and that does not take into account any accidents you may find between now and the 2h it could take you to drive through LA (which can be the case any time of day or night). 6am could get you there best case by 11am (unless you make stops) so you could probably go for a tour reservation of around 1pm (maybe 2pm so you would not stress, and grab a nice lunch if you get there earlier or try to get on an earlier tour). Then you could also do a drive up to Monterey - although again you could be really exhausted having left at 6am.

So you'd be driving from Monterey to Yosemite the next day? Yowza! Talk about seeing as much of California as you can! Both are gorgeous sights. If you ever think you'll be doing another CA trip but focus on Northern CA then I'd suggest moving Monterey to your northern CA trip (w/ Napa, etc.). There is so much to do in Monterey like the aquarium, Pebble Beach, wander around Carmel (and if you had a dog with you, Carmel is a fantastic dog friendly town complete w/ off leash beach).

Yosemite is definitely something not to be missed especially if you were able to snag a reservation there! (I've been trying to get a camping reservation there for years and try the first moment my target date is available and I've yet to score one...)

In any case, it sounds like a great trip

 

[jina]

just thought of another option - pick up your car the night before and leave the night before - drive through LA that evening (leave after 7pm) and stay somewhere just north of LA off of the 101. then you can leave the next morning, do a late morning tour and still have some time to check out Monterey and Carmel although if it were me I'd still do a full day in the Monterey area.

 

[2DoubleFives]

We did get a reservation for July 10th - I was shocked b/c we planned kind of late! Yeah, I might be pushing it this trip to do Monterey. The original plan was to stay in Morro Bay on the 9th after seeing Hearst. I might just stick with that.