Avoiding LA traffic?

[gotfz1]

If you want to transit LA direct and avoid traffic I'd plan for 9p-5a and monitor the Caltrans highway conditions page for night time closures/construction. If you're inexperienced or uncomfortable with lane sharing prefer routes with carpool lanes. Helps to be aware of the typical flow during rush hour. Some major roads can be dead for a few hours going against the flow. Yet others are clogged in both directions nearly all daylight hours.

You can get from SJ to SD with very little interstate and a lot of good motorcycle roads that won't be too heavily trafficked depending upon how much time you have. When I commuted between LA/SF 25/299/58/33/county roads were usually part of the plan. Staying east once you get to SoCal is going to be less trouble than not. Some of the good roads mentioned above east of the 15 are fantastic. Also helps to be aware of the weekend travel patterns. Friday from early afternoon until very late can clog major and minor roads leading out of town. Sunday afternoon the reverse.

 

[supertankerm60a3]

Steve, First, you can split lanes all the way through. However, in the interest of shortening the pain, I would suggest taking 126 inland from Ventura to I-5 take 5 till you leave the metroplex. You REALLY want to avoid the 101/405 interchange area, That is the worst area.

 

[McRide]

Carmaggedon can happen any day in LA county. If your goal is to get through the city and enjoy a tall, cool one asap in San Diego, the best, easiest way through LA is just do it. Swinging to the east may bring as much traffic as you're trying to avoid, as other have said. Backups can start in Santa Barbara but the belly-of-the-beast will be on the 405 coming down the hill into Santa Monica, then 50 miles to Costa Mesa. South of CM, it's usually wide open until Oceanside in North San Diego County where things can slow down for a bit. Reality Check: you'll be through LA in about 2 1/2 hours in the worst case. And don't forget, 405 has a dedicated HOV/Bike lane all the way. If that backs up, time to go lane splitting. If not, you sit and bake.

 

[Bugnatr]

I'm allergic to LA but Jerry is right. Do LA on a Saturday or Sunday morning real early. Most folks get a late(after 9:18 am) start on those days and I have found it rather easy to get through LA in during the weekend.

Cluster ******* Seattle is another ball game-no good time to ride through there IMHO.

 

[James Burleigh]

Apropos of this conversation, here's what traffic on the 405 south looked like Saturday morning (yesterday) between 11 and noon.

 

[Moedad]

There are no guarantees with SoCal traffic, but early (up until 9-ish) Sunday morning is usually best.