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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 20, 2017 - 03:11pm PT
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I spent the past 7 days in LA, specifically in Downey CA which is in LA county. The weather was 'interesting' and the driving was the worst traffic on a continuous basis I have ever experienced.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/20/traffic-study-ranks-los-angeles-as-worlds-most-clogged-city.html
The first evening we had to drive 21.6 miles from Downey to Universal Studios for an event. In the normal driving world which is just about everything outside of Los Angeles my mind says 45 minutes in an urban environment would be a safe estimate to traverse said distance. Even in and around NYC, unless it's the BQE and then we're back in bizarro world of traffic.
Dropped the destination into Waze and it says 1h 6m. OK, a bit longer, but we've given ourselves ample time to get there and park and maybe have a pre-event cocktail.
1h 47m minutes later we rock in 30 minutes late. And this was to travel 21.6 miles. I could have bicycled that in significantly less time had I had a bike and a reasonable bike path not the 101 through the heart of LA.
So we chalked it up to being an anomaly. Not so fast. Over the course of the next five days we encountered similarly difficult driving on the 10, 5, 405, 110, 605, 710, 101 and other roads. However, a once in a quarter century storm probably had something to do with the drive times on THU-SAT. But interestingly enough, the rain keeps people away from Santa Monica.
YMMV
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 20, 2017 - 03:24pm PT
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LA is nothing compared to Jakarta.
When I was there it was an absolute nightmare and was so glad I wasn't the driver.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Feb 20, 2017 - 03:34pm PT
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If you biked, your bike would have gotten stolen while your back was turned at Universal, and all the time you saved riding to the event would have been wasted ten times over trying to get back home.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 03:41pm PT
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You'd have been lucky to survive a bike ride here. The crankloons love nothing more than
to terrorize cyclists, or pedestrians, all eight of them.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Feb 20, 2017 - 03:57pm PT
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Downy to Universal??
That route doesn't go...
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labrat
Trad climber
Erik O. Auburn, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:01pm PT
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Train is moving much faster than anything else in Truckee at the moment...
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:38pm PT
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1 hour 47 minutes on a Friday evening was a really good time. A bad night and that could have been almost 3 hours.
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:49pm PT
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Yeah, LA traffic is insane and drive times are completely unpredictable. BITD I had a friend who lived 10-15 minutes' drive from me with normal traffic in West LA, but on a day when the roads tipped over into gridlock, the drive took well over an hour. Eventually you give up on saying "I'll meet you there at X o'clock," and just agree to meet at some unknown future time. You also learn to do as much of your driving as possible between 9 PM and 5 AM.
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Johannsolo
climber
Soul Cal
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:54pm PT
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Stop being a pu$$y and suck it up. I just drove 2 hrs each way to Woodson from Long Beach on Sunday and it rained all day. Had a great time exploring.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:55pm PT
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I rode thru Monrovia once...It was like rappelling from a blackhawk helicopter into a somalian hornets next...Rude people...! Very Rude....
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Feb 20, 2017 - 04:59pm PT
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Yeah. And the geniuses in city hall are reducing lanes on city streets in West L.A. to try to encourage people to ride bikes. Who's gonna ride a bike through exhaust fumes for ten miles to get to work? Maybe if your work is out-doors, but not if you're any kind of professional.
Don't those morons know that making gridlock worse makes pollution worse? And they're doing this sh*t on purpose.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Feb 20, 2017 - 05:03pm PT
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Shiny metal boxes are for sardines.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 05:22pm PT
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Sorry, Gunkie. It is pretty horrible.
During the week, the small window between 10AM-1:30 PM is usually reasonable. Then it gets OK again after about 7PM.
And the weekends are usually fine until Sunday late afternoon.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 05:41pm PT
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Chaz seems to believe LA is some dystopia. I've ridden my bike in LA for years and have yet to have one stolen. In fact, I still try to ride to the office (from Westchester to Santa Monica) whenever I can.
BTW, I wouldn't want to make the drive, rain or no. LA traffic is grim. Add rain and a Friday night and you're in for a long unpleasant evening.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Feb 20, 2017 - 05:54pm PT
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Downey to Univeral (on HWY 5) has been under construction now for years and will never be finished. Take the 605 or 710.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:08pm PT
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The key to driving in LA is not driving in LA.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 20, 2017 - 06:28pm PT
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Study: LA Has World’s Worst Traffic...
No, not even close. The short list: Rome, Mexico City, Cairo, London, Moscow, any city in Asia or India.
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