OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread

[gbaji]

Hate to break it to y'all Socal traffic haters, but Nocal traffic is worse in so many different ways that it boggles the mind. And this is from a guy who used to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to be at the gym at 5:00 to avoid the 45 minute commute that going over the hill to Westwood would entail. This, of course, was before I became rational and left my firm to start on my own a very civilized 6 minute commute away.

Yeah. That's in/around SF. What makes the traffic good or bad is based on how well the local planners actually implemented their freeway system ahead of traffic expecations. Both LA and SF have done poor jobs in that regard, with freeways that run in bewildering (and often unuseful) directions, and traffic just way outpacing construction.

Outside of those two areas though (and by SF, I'm kinda including the entire bay area, and LA highway nonsense extends east quite a bit as well), California generally has a very well designed and thought out freeway system, mostly due to most cities/towns having actually grown mostly with cars and highways as part of the consideration (which is true of most areas out west, though that does not explain the adoption of the east coast style "circular highway with spokes" design around Phoenix, but then Arizona is just strange that way. They also put roundabouts in places that just have no business having them, kinda "just because we wanted to").

San Diego is fine, but La Jolla is magical.

For driving? La Jolla shores is great, since you just go in, turn north along the coast, and park somewhere along the beach there (or visit other areas), and actually loops back out to the north (up the hill and then onto the Torrey Pines road I was talking about earlier, then past the golf courses and hospitals/UCSD area, then back down to the beach and into Del Mar as you go north). Actually getting into downtown La Jolla proper is a pain IMO. The road in goes past the route into the Shores, then goes west and then south along the coastline. There's more or less one way in and one way out though, so traffic can be "really bad", depending on time of day.

But yeah. Once you are there, it's this quaint village kind of area, with a main street, shops, houses up on the hills in one direction, ocean in the other, etc. Honestly though, you get a similar feel in Del Mar, or Solana Beach, but with much less travel from the I5, and less traffic/time to get there (the ocean view is arguably better in La Jolla though, since the whole thing is kind of a promontory).

Vegas. They were going to Vegas.

And depending on day and time, traffic is just nasty all the way to Vegas. The I15 and I40 diverge in Barstow, and usually I40 is relatively calm. But until you get there you are in that tangle of "highway system extending east from LA", which is a nightmare of different highways going this way and that, and intersecting in odd and dumb ways, forcing drivers to zig zag around, depending on where they are actually going. Traffic from/to LA and Riverside/San Bernadino (and surrounding areas), and folks travelling through from parts south, or east, or north, all kinda converge in that area. And the I15 itself can turn into a 200+ mile long line of slow moving cars between Barstow and Vegas depending on traffic and accidents.

You *never* (like never ever, maybe not even if your life depends on it), want to go through there on a Friday or a Sunday (afternoon specifically, and when I say "afternoon" I literally mean "any time that is after Noon"). And, of course, any weekday in the late afternoon to evening is a nightmare (silly numbers of people commute from/to work through there). We used to do weekend trips in Vegas, and learned that it actually works better to adust your schedule a day forward or back (if you can). So head out Thursday morning (early to miss the morning rush hour through Riverside, and also the evening rush hour in Vegas, an hour or so too late, and you'll hit both), and come back Saturday. Alternatively, drive up Saturday morning and come back Monday (again, just make sure you aren't going through Riverside after about 3 in the afternoon though).

The rookie mistake is driving out Friday and coming back Sunday. All day, both days, suck, because that's when everyone else has decided to take the same drive.

Oh. Someone mentioned rail? Yeah. I'll believe that when I see it. They have literally been talking about a high speed passenger rail along that route since at least the mid 80s (when I first started noticing or caring). I would love that to exist. And you'd think it would be a no-brainer thing to build. But apparnetly, just not so easily done though.


Also... Red beans and Rice is great food. Just saying.