Carmageddon

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Are they closing the east - west ont the 10 and 101? Or just the north - south?

I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project | I-405 Closure

Here are the I-405 freeway closure boundaries for the July 16-17 weekend:

* Northbound I-405: 10-mile closure between I-10 and U.S. 101
* Southbound I-405: 4-mile closure between U.S. 101 and Getty Center Drive Ramps

On Friday, July 15, ramps along the 10 mile closure will begin to be shut down as early as 7 p.m., and closure of freeway lanes will begin at 10 p.m. to ensure full freeway closure by midnight. The closure will continue until 5 a.m. Monday morning, July 18. Ramps and connectors will be reopened by 6 a.m.

[Noah930]

On the way home I saw some kid selling t-shirts on a street corner. (Ventura & Van Nuys). Had a 405 highway sign, with the word "Carmageddon" above it.

[slodave]

I'm too late again.... I thought of that today.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by RWebb

no problem -- just take transit until it's finished


ooops! you guys have no transit!!

L.A. used to have transit The Red Cars of Los Angeles ......until General Motors came alone and fixed it Great American streetcar scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by slodave

I'm too late again.... I thought of that today.

Well, it's not like I saw him actually selling any of 'em.

[varmint]

Originally Posted by speeder

We have really good mass transit.

maybe the dumbest thing ever written.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by varmint

maybe the dumbest thing ever written.

Get your shine box, punk.

[varmint]

"shine box"? are you 150 years old? do you have alzheimers and think the red cars are still running down santa monica blvd? that would explain a lot.

and please explain how the l.a. mass transit system is "really good". take your time. this should be entertaining.

[speeder]

Varmint lives here, (supposedly), and doesn't know what's up.

For the rest of you, I can walk 2 blocks from my apt. and catch a subway downtown or to the valley, or transfer DT to another train to the airport or the Amtrak to just about anywhere. Buses run every 5 minutes on Wilshire, including the red *Rapido* ones that haul ass and only stop @ selected intersections. They get you to the west side or DT faster than a quick car. I think that the buses are excellent here, better than in other cities I spend time in. There is a perception that there is no good public transpo here because of the rabid car culture, (which is very present and real), but the reality is different. At least in the city proper, where I live.

[varmint]

left that death hole a year and a half ago. try to keep up.


aside from the questionable wisdom of spending a billion a mile on a subway through earthquake country, it doesn't go anywhere a person with a job would find useful.

then there is you love of the rolling petri dishes called buses. are you certain you're in los angeles? anyone who's actually spent any time there rolled their eyes when they heard you say "the buses are excellent".

[widgeon13]

Why would an intelligent person even leave the house this weekend? Just take the bike it will be MUCH faster.

[Ronbo]

Originally Posted by varmint

it doesn't go anywhere a person with a job would find useful.

It's actually very efficient to go from the valley to downtown. My wife is a CPA with an office near Universal Studios and has a lot of clients located downtown. She uses the subway a lot for business so as not to have to deal with traffic and parking.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by varmint

left that death hole a year and a half ago. try to keep up.


aside from the questionable wisdom of spending a billion a mile on a subway through earthquake country, it doesn't go anywhere a person with a job would find useful.

then there is you love of the rolling petri dishes called buses. are you certain you're in los angeles? anyone who's actually spent any time there rolled their eyes when they heard you say "the buses are excellent".

I'm glad to hear that you left. You've done your part to make L.A. a better place. Have you ever actually ridden a bus in Los Angeles? Was it in the last 30 years? I have, (on occasion), and found them to be as clean or cleaner than buses in other major U.S. cities or in Europe. Seriously. And the subway cars are probably the nicest and cleanest in the country. probably because they're the newest by about 100 years.

On the rare times that I'm without a car and need to get somewhere, I do not think twice about walking up the street and jumping on a bus. Los Angeles is of course a very huge and spread-out place, so it's not like you can get anywhere in town quickly on mass transit. But that's also true of car travel, depending on the destination and distance. For the places I usually go, the mass transit works great here. But then I choose to live in the city proper for its access to the areas where I usually hang-out and work. I'm never on the 405 unless it's actually the best way to get where I'm going at some particular time.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

Why would an intelligent person even leave the house this weekend? Just take the bike it will be MUCH faster.

This intelligent person is finding that traffic is unbelievably light thanks to the strategy of all the govt. agencies hyping the crap out of this. It's hilarious. They should tear-down that bridge every weekend.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by varmint

left that death hole a year and a half ago. try to keep up.


aside from the questionable wisdom of spending a billion a mile on a subway through earthquake country, it doesn't go anywhere a person with a job would find useful.

then there is you love of the rolling petri dishes called buses. are you certain you're in los angeles? anyone who's actually spent any time there rolled their eyes when they heard you say "the buses are excellent".

How many people who have "spent any time" in Los Angeles have actually tried the public transportation while here in the last 20 years? Most visitors listen to ignorant fks like you, (although they're usually in fly-over country), and never see much of this place. They stay in a cheap hotel in some dipschit suburb and go to Disneyland.

You are quite the expert.

[agrimmitt]

If anyone thinks the road work will be done on Monday morning, he or she hasn't lived and or driven in Los Angeles and the San Fernando valley much. I would not be surprised to see the work going into Tuesday. Or at least only two lanes open, so beware of side street parking tickets/signs and large concrete holes if someone makes a mistake.
art

[nostatic]

Last night there was no issue getting to the bar and the place was packed. Today will be the real test as I need to get to Torrance to play a wedding but right now freeways are empty so the trip down will be quick. Just need to keep the masses at bay until 3pm or so when I head back to Santa Monica. Then I can walk or bike every place I need to go (about 30+ restaurants within a mile from my house). Which is what I normally do. Parts of "LA" are highly walkable, and parts of LA actually have very good public trans. The burbs however generally do not. Like everything else around here, pick your poison...

[speeder]

OK, I'm heading out of the neighborhood over to my buddy's place in Beverly Hills to work on the 356 some. I'll make a report on how it goes, either smooth or stuck in traffic. BH is definitely the west side, though the definition of "west side" and other geographical markers is kind of an in-joke among Angelenos. For artist-types who live DT, Hollywood is the west side.

It's been an unseasonably cool summer for the most part, current temp is 69deg. with a high today of 78. My destination is up in the "bird streets" where George Harrison was staying when he wrote the Beatles song, "Blue Jay Way". All of the streets have bird names: Flickr/Oriole/Thrasher/Bluejay/etc. It's a chill place to work on a car under a shade tree, maybe take a break at some point and watch a movie or take a nap by the pool. Here is a pic from the last time I was over there:

[Noah930]

There was light traffic on Coldwater when I took the dog up to Tree People for a morning walk.

[TRE Cup]

Traffic has been super light on the freeways. Actual messy area is the 5 and the 170 junction , where they are doing major construction- new ramps.
Speeder is spot on with the bus service. Here in the valley, they haul butt even in commute times. One am, i was squirting in/out of traffic and was amazed to see the red bus either keeping pace, or getting ahead sweeping the gutter lane !

The subway service has proved good for our business, as lots of professionals that work downtown leave the car with us, then we drop them off at Metro.
I've enjoyed the no hassle dealing with cars going to Hollywood or downtown for entertainment, while leaving the car in the Metro lot.
I am happy they have the system and expanding it. Is it over budget in construction/ upkeep ?- probably (have you seen Metro's billion dollar office bldg downtown yikes!) - then again what usa cities have public transpo that came in at budget?
Is it safe going underground in earthquake fault zones? Not likely, and above ground was a non starter with locals and officials (there were right of way / center of the freeway proposals in the 60's, but it got torpedoed. Heck the freeway was already ugly, what was a train going down the middle do with esthetics? )