Results tagged “congestion”

In addition to approving support for high speed rail, the Metro Board today approved ExpressLanes for portions of the 10 and 110 freeways as part of a one-year congestion reduction demonstration project funded by a federal grant. Because there's no space to build more freeways, Metro says this is a way to squeeze in more capacity. Under the plan, car pool lanes would turn into toll lanes of sorts. Those who carpool, take public transit or drive a motorcycle will not be affected, but solo drivers would be allowed into the lanes at a price--anywhere from a quarter to $1.40 a mile depending on the time of day and demand for usage.

       

A group of UCLA students, under the auspices of Bruins for Traffic Relief, hit the streets last Friday to garner support for Measure R, the countywide ballot initiative that would raise the sales tax a half-cent in order to raise an estimated $40 billion for transit over the next 30 years. "As the largest trip-attractor on the Westside, with a daytime population of 55,000, UCLA stands to greatly benefit from new transportation options on the Westside," e-mails Juan Matute, an urban planning student and director of the UCLA Sustainable Resource Center.

We are all about the "people first" concept, which is planning for people, not cars when developing a new building or road. However, pedestrians still need to follow the law. Saturday night's traffic in Santa Monica for the Glow Festival was only worsened by the fact that pedestrians would cross streets against the walk signal's "don't cross" hand. Witnessed at just about every intersection, this left vehicles in all directions backed up and clogged at intersections more than they would without. We all have to work together, even when you're just on two feet.

UCLA Professor Donald Shoup has been saying it for years: "inexpensive parking fosters urban decay, contributes to sprawl and motivates people to drive alone." How? It's that circling around effect, you know, when looking for spaces, avoiding valet. "Low meter rates can further congest city streets as motorists search for cheap parking spaces," the LA Times writes. "Studies in New York indicate that motorists on the hunt represent about 28% of all traffic on Manhattan and 45% in Brooklyn."

Anyone who travels north via The 5 during holidays knows once you start hitting the northern part of the Santa Clarita Valley (a few minutes past Magic Mountain), traffic backs up, making it a slow hump over the Grapevine. Caltrans warns of why traffic will be additionally heavy these next thirteen holiday days:

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) advises motorists planning to travel on the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5) in north Los Angeles County to plan ahead, leave early to avoid holiday-related heavy traffic -- due to an ongoing lane closure on northbound I-5 at Templin Highway, (approximately five miles north of Castaic). The lane closure is due to ongoing storm-related slope stabilization and roadway repairs.

Continue reading "The Usual Holiday Grapevine Traffic"

" "Just because you've rolled horse manure in powdered sugar doesn't mean you have a doughnut": people aren't very happy with the Farm Bill, and yet the Senate still seems set on passing a totally inadequate "reformed" bill that continues to subsidize Big Agriculture at the expense of our nation's health. City officials are "identifying" Muslim communities across the city -- but it's not profiling, it's "community engagement"!! Those kooky kids at City Hall!...

Amount of space required to transport the same number of passengers by car, bus or bicycle. This poster, from the City of Munster in Germany, has been making its way around the internet this past week. Now, either an internet star or slut, it carries a simple message about congestion, urban planning and people: cars are great, but can really suck in certain situations and people will just deal with it anyway. We often...

View Larger Map NOTE: One approach equals one left turn signal, some intersections have more then one new left turn arrow. One left turn signal can cost up to $80,000. Mayor Villaraigosa is making sure his recent replacement at the Department of Transportation is a good choice. Today, they announced the 30/30 program:LADOT will install and activate 30 left turn arrows in 30 business days at some of the City’s most congested and bottlenecked intersections....

The MTA will be testing a new 65-foot-long prototype bus - which can hold up to 131 sitting and standing passengers - on the Orange Line busway for one year starting this week. Nicely done: L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon drafted a measure 2 months ago that would've drastically reduced traffic congestion on one block of one street in Panorama City - namely the one where his house is located. Who's down with Gov....

Today brought on two major changes for Sherman Oaks. Some are cheering, some are jeering. The first is the opening of the 405 on-ramp just south of Valley's busiest intersection of Ventura/Sepulveda at Greenleaf Street. This means no more traveling a couple miles to Burbank Blvd. to get on the 405 North and possibly a tiny bit less congestion. The second and controversial neighborhood newbie (to some) is the grand opening of Best Buy on...

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take her medicine and offered their own suggestions to how the city should capitalize on the local music scene. And everyone thinks that a suggested tax on bottled water is a great idea.

Today, Susan Doyle's weekly transportation column in the Daily News looks into how lengthy commutes fatigue Angelenos, forcing them to stay home on the weekends and time leisurely trips around traffic. She also pulls out the "geographically undesirable" phrase when it comes to dating:Whether behind the wheel or sitting on a bus, Los Angeles commuters spend about 93 hours a year stuck in traffic. And those like Hicklin often end up feeling so wiped...

No, this is not "Go Metro" to a Hollywood venue, only for the concert to get out after Red Line service ends, leaving you to the streets and cabs. This is go Metro to Union Station's Old Ticket Room for a free CANON concert next month on September 8th at 8 p.m.. The catch, your entrance is your metro pass, metro rail ticket or proof of Metrolink fare. Seemingly geared towards transit optional green...

Known to some as La Brea Park and dubbed “America’s Champs Elysee,” Miracle Mile has put up a long fight to become one of the most visited neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Despite the area’s slight congestion, Miracle Mile is a great place for culture, business, and happy living....

Photo by Lush.i.ous via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

Indiana Pacers star power forward Jermaine O'Neal wants to be traded to the Lakers. Bad. Even Southern California is starting to feel the pinch of congestion and overcrowding. Frustration with a lack of action at the federal level has prompted states to enact a raft of new immigration laws in the first 6 months of 2007 - more than twice the number that was passed during the same period last year. A North Hollywood...

Just when you thought the public transportation and traffic situation in Los Angeles couldn't possibly get any worse... it did. Yes, in a true stroke of brilliance, the State Assembly decided to cut close to $1.3 billion in funding from mass transit transportation in this year's budget bill. As Siel over at green LA girl notes, this means we can probably kiss that planned Expo line expansion from Culver City to Santa Monica good-bye....

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities.

As Beverly HIlls gets ready for their meeting tonight, Boi from Troy ponders about the city of West Hollywood being the only Westside city without any purple tunnel love:Rather than shoot straight down Wilshire–an easy proposal–why not consider taking to subway to places people want to go? How about building the Subway to the Grove, then to Cedars Sinai/Beverly Center/West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, UCLA, Brentwood then Santa Monica, linking in with the new Exposition...

Thanks to our buddy, the LA City Nerd, for pointing out the newest hot blog on the scene -- Militant Angeleno. The anonymous blogger first started posting a week ago Friday and we like this rule of thumb for living in Los Angeles: Yes, I own and drive a car, but I'm not obsessed with it. In order to save money, gas, congestion and wear and tear on my car, I walk to places...

With one-third of the worst freeway junctions in this land o' freedom according to Forbes Magazine, somehow, this city still runs. It must be due to the fact that Los Angeles is economically successful: that is, if we go by the theory of economist Anthony Downs who said in the Washington Post that more economic activity equals more cars and more driving. He continues to say that "congestion will remain a fact of life...

Do we need to say much more than that to give you a "ha!" and an "uhhhhh?" at the same time (now this should be the definition of interrobang)? Supposedly, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's were in the midst of a training exercise that included this bag of dummy explosives. But someone who wasn't supposed to get to them, got to them first and stole it. Metro stopped the Gold and Red Lines before hitting...

Following up on a news item we told you about on Friday, apparently the residents of Venice are in alignment with those in Mar Vista who are pissed that Santa Monica has passed a law that only allows dogs with SM tags to legally play in their new park on Bundy and Airport Drive which is right next door to Mar Vista. In the letters section of yesterday's Times were two correspondences that we...

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us.

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs.

So there we were. Granted putting ten pounds into a five pound bag, trying to fit too many things into a Friday night but we were fairly convinced we could do what we always do - outsmart LA traffic and when there are moments where the congestion breaks up, well, gun it. Friday was not one of those nights. Maybe it was because it was Friday the 13th. While it has never served as...

Plans to tear down the hideous 17-story Federal Building at 11000 Wilshire Boulevard are moving swiftly. Before you get all excited about the tearing down of ugliness in the hopes that such ugliness will be replaced by a Gehry-esque fantasy of steel and movement or a Meier-esque tribute to clarity and light, consider that it could get uglier. That's right. The FBI plans to setup shop in its place. See...we told you it could...

We didn't say it. Tony Bell said it to the LA Times' Steve Hymon. Who is Bell? Bell is the communications director for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich. And to be fair, Bell thinks "light rail down one of the major east-west streets on the Westside might be the better solution." So trains are not totally out. Here's another Bell quote: "The supervisor understands — as do most county residents — that we...

Everyone rags on the 405. At least it is predictable. On the other hand, the 101 is becoming the new 405.