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View Full Version : best driving route thru L.A.



frogman333
05-29-2006, 05:56 AM
leaving sacramento 10am friday 6-16-06 [way to many 6's,omen?]
I 5 south should put me in L A at 5 pm. my question is what would be the best route to DL. 4 people so hov lanes would be best.

PapiBear
05-29-2006, 06:09 AM
Cool, hitting LA just in time for Friday rush hour. That'd get you to Disneyland sometime after midnight. Just stay on the 5, it goes right to Harbor Blvd.

capst
05-29-2006, 07:31 AM
Bad time to hit town on Friday.

As you pass Magic Mountain (I5 and Magic Mountain Pkwy), switch to KFWB 980 AM, traffic every 10 min on the ones (unless there's a Dodger game on then) or better XM Satelite Radio LA Traffic. See if there are any major obstructions reported on the I5. If there are, you might consider taking the 210 to the 57 south to Ball Rd. That way would only be quicker if there is a major problem on the 5.

Just factor in that it could take a couple of hours and it might be a good time for a dinner break.

nightdesigns
05-29-2006, 07:49 AM
I second the 210 to the 57. Mileage wise it's about an extra 20 mintues. Time savings wise, it's worth it.

Koala Gurl
05-29-2006, 08:15 AM
I second the dinner suggestion!

If you stay on the 5, you can stop in Valencia (by Magic Mountain) for dinner, or if you plan to go the 210, there are a few places to stop for dinner (Pasadena would be my choice.)

Otherwise, the 5 south once you hit downtown will be awful, especially on a Friday night.

littlebugg
05-29-2006, 09:38 AM
Being from the SF Bay Area I am used to hitting traffic anywhere I go on the highways, but we still talk about what we encountered in LA.

About 6 years ago we came down into Burbank on the 5 and as soon as we hit downtown LA we hit dead stop bumper to bumper traffic. What is so unbelievable about this is that it was about 12:30am!

Apparently, there was a couple of lanes closed but we didn't get to Anaheim until almost 3 am!

So I would follow the suggestions and check for traffic alerts on the radio, and have an alternative route in mind in case needed.

In the past when we wanted to avoid Friday traffic, we would stay the night in Buttonwillow or past there, and leave early so we could coast the last couple hours to DL Sat. morning w/ minimal traffic. You can find a motel room for less than 50 bucks along 5. And with plenty of inexpensive places to grab a bite to eat.
However, if you're going to the park on Sat. then this may be difficult for you to check in to your hotel in the morning or afternoon.

Have a Great Time !!! :)

Oh yeah, NEVER stay in the cockroach infested motels between Burbank and Anaheim. We had to leave one in the middle of the night because of the roaches all over the walls and IN THE BEDS YUCK!

Darkbeer
05-29-2006, 09:47 AM
Another option, take the 405 south to the 105 east to the 605 south to the 91 east to the 5 south.

This will give you the maximum amount of Car Pool lanes.

You do hit a streach on the 405 south without carpool lanes (for the 10 to a few miles north of the Airport, a new segment opened last Tuesday.

And the short segment on the 605 is non-Car Pool.

From the 91 to the 5 south, there is a special Car Pool exit.

And there is a special Car Pool exit onto Disneyland Drive.

JeffG
05-29-2006, 02:07 PM
Another option, take the 405 south to the 105 east to the 605 south to the 91 east to the 5 south.

This will give you the maximum amount of Car Pool lanes.

I really don't think that the car pool lanes are going to be worth having to drive through the Sepulveda Pass around 5pm on a Friday night. From experience, I would say that the drive from the Ventura freeway turn-off to LAX on the 405 would take at least 90 minutes to 2 hours, with traffic frequently at a dead halt. The car pool lanes will be pretty much meaningless during that stretch.

There really isn't a good way to get there on a Friday evening, but the 210/57 route is probably the best of the ones suggested so far, unless you decide to simply wait it out on the 5.

Honestly, the best advice that has been given here is to stop for dinner in the Valencia area and not get back on the road until later. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it would probably be a best plan to go over to the Valencia Town Center for a leasurely dinner and possibly even see a movie or something. On a Friday night, you will save a bunch of headaches if you wait at least until after 8pm to get back on the road.

-Jeff

sjcivilady
05-29-2006, 04:14 PM
I try to always leave by 6am on a weekday - gets you there early afternoon; I'm 30-40 minutes south of you. Several times I have left at 5 am and been able to hit the parks noon/1 pm. (although I think traffic is getting worse than before - saw comments about it on another thread, too)

erica84
05-29-2006, 04:27 PM
I'm from near Sacramento and we left at 5:00am this past Wednesday morning. We arrived at the Candy Cane Inn by 11:15am so we made pretty good time considering we did hit some traffic. We took I-5 all the way down and the traffic wasn't too bad. I'd say if you can leave any earlier than 10:00, that would be a better option. If not, just bring some snacks and some good music. Have fun!

vmjess
05-29-2006, 07:53 PM
We ALWAYS use the 210/57 route and it is so much better than going 5 all the way. It is a little longe mileage wise, but you never have to stop for traffic which more than makes up for it time wise.

disneynut
05-29-2006, 09:03 PM
Coming from NorCal too. We usually use the 210/57 route. The 405 off the 5 is insane and the carpool lanes are virtually worthless on that stretch. We've gotten stuck too many times on the 5 to take it all of the way through to DL. From the minute we can get reception on the grapevine, we keep the radio tuned to a news/traffic station. I'd keep with the 210/57 unless the radio tells you something different.

On another traffic note, I noticed the last time we were down south they were using the freeway digital signs to tell you how long of a drive you were in for. I don't know if that's new or I just don't pay a whole lot of attention. It was kind of nice though.

cyberRoo
05-30-2006, 09:01 AM
An alternative to the 405 to the 91 option is the 170 to the 101 to the 110 to the 105 to the 605 to the 91 to the 5

It sounds crazy because of the number of freeways, and traffic will be bad on the 101, but aside from that it's all carpool lanes. The 110 to the 105 and the 91 to the 5 are both dedicated carpool transitions, too.

If that's too complicated, you can also try the 5 to the 605 to the 91.

biolabetty
05-30-2006, 11:19 AM
I live in the Magic Mountain area and usually take the 5 all of the way, unless it is rush hour, or there is an accident on the 5. Then I will either take the 210 to the 57, or the 210 to the 605 to the 5. I take the last one if the reports sound good down in the area of Whittier, the 605 can be pretty crazy sometimes, but it does dump you out on the 5 about 15 minutes from DL. The dinner suggestion here in Valencia is a good one, if you need any help finding a restaurant, I can help.

IF there is no traffic, it usually takes me about 55 minutes from Magic Mountain to DL on the 5, but I've taken as long as 2 and half hours on a Saturday afternoon. Going the alternate routes does add travel time, but it sure is better than sitting in rush hour traffic on the 5. I have found the digital traffic signs to be very accurate with the amount of time it should take at that time to various points on the freeway. Good luck and have a great time!

mkraemer
05-30-2006, 11:35 AM
I live in the Bay Area, and I drive on the 5 to go south.

I like leaving really early in the morning (I'd rather have more time at the park). My best travel time was when we left at 4 am--we got to Burbank at about 8 and then hit some traffic--but still got to the park at 9:30.

The thing I noticed that was the best about leaving so early was the lack of trucks on the 5. Often, it's the people who poke in the left lane or the trucks passing one another that slow things down.

I got hooked. I'd rather leave at 4 and not deal with the trucks.

My husband and I keep track of our travel times--the best time each of us has made was 5.5 hours (although, I swear, if I hadn't hit that traffic in Burbank, I was on target for 5 hours, door to door); the worst was about 9 hours (and the horrible traffic was on 152, between Gilroy and the 5, so go figure). Thank heaven for the 'inflight' DVD player and the portapotty for my kids!! :)

I still haven't found a sure-fire way to get through LA without traffic, at any time of day or night. Going on 5 can be a crapshoot, but the other routes just *feel* like forever...

biolabetty
05-30-2006, 11:45 AM
And watch it on the grapevine, they have a large section going southbound that is labeled 45 mph. No one goes that speed, but it is posted, and if they catch you they have it also posted that you will receive double the fine. Last week when I was going that way, they also had signs that occasionally they were going to close a few lanes in that area. It feels like they've been working on that stretch of road forever.

tonytone
05-30-2006, 12:57 PM
frogman--it could be worse; you could have left on 6-6-06! ;)

But, back to your question--what a coinky-dinky; I'm from the Sac area and I left for DL this past Friday! Dunno how many times in the past you've done the DL trip from Sac; me, I take my chances and stay on I-5 all the way down. Unfortunately, last Friday was a travel nightmare for us--we had planned to be on the road by around 3 pm at the latest...for various reasons we didn't wind up leaving until around 4:20 pm. Then a few miles past Tracy we hit this really long backup that stretched for at least 6 miles (and probably even longer than that; I never did find out exactly what caused it--I took a back road that paralleled I-5 and got back on past it)...after making our requisite one gas/meal stop, we didn't reach our hotel until almost 1 am Saturday!

But I digress--including one meal/gas stop, it takes me 6 1/2 hours home-to-hotel from Rocklin (435 miles). If you want to minimize the possibility of dealing w/ too much LA traffic, I would think your best bet if/when leaving on a Friday (one advantage in your favor is that you're not leaving on a holiday weekend like I just did) is to leave either fairly early in the morning (say 8 am) or late afternoon (2 pm)...depending on how many stops you plan to make during the drive down.

mkraemer
05-30-2006, 06:22 PM
Oh! Here's another aspect for this thread...gas prices.

I've always found the best prices on my stint of the 5 at the Lost Hills exit. Anybody else?

capst
05-30-2006, 11:38 PM
Oh! Here's another aspect for this thread...gas prices.

I've always found the best prices on my stint of the 5 at the Lost Hills exit. Anybody else?


Check http://www.californiagasprices.com/

capst

Gilliegrl
05-31-2006, 05:55 AM
Just wanted to share...Having lived in socal for 20 years and now up here in the bay area for 3 I wanted to share that the traffic up here on the worst day is nothing compared to LA traffic especially on a friday night. The best advice as already mentioned is to either leave earlier or stop and have dinner and make it a long dinner as the traffic is miserable!

We drove down in April and was making beautiful time until we hit LA, I first thought that a dodger day game was the problem, nope they were playing out of town 2 hours later we hit the OC border and the traffic opened up. It took 2 hours on a saturday afternoon to creep through LA. It was brutal because we were slow close to our destination. Anyway good luck!!!

zombie pirate
05-31-2006, 06:41 AM
Can you even see the Matterhorn from the I-5 anymore? I was driving south on the I-5 to Disneyland yesterday, I couldnt, but I had to pay attention to the road.

Darkbeer
05-31-2006, 07:21 AM
You can if you know where to look, it is easier to see going northbound on the I-5.


Southbound, look to the right just after passing the HoJo's and the Harbor Blvd. exit.

sechs
06-04-2006, 04:42 PM
The best advice as already mentioned is to either leave earlier or stop and have dinner and make it a long dinner as the traffic is miserable!

Bzzt! The best advice is to not drive.

There's no reason to spend all that time driving around, stuck in a car, when there's a perfectly serviceable train-bus-train combination from Sacramento to Anaheim (or Fullerton, as some prefer).

Save the environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, while you're at it.