Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
34
Tips
Stay Away from Santa Monica Boulevard
If you're driving to or from Santa Monica and the Westside communities—Bev-
erly Hills, West Hollywood, Century City—try to avoid Santa Monica Boulevard
during rush hour. Both Wilshire and Pico boulevards parallel Santa Monica Boule-
vard and are usually far less congested. (Pico Blvd. is my savior.)
at Long B each. C rammed with big rigs
leaving the por t in S an Pedro in a r ush,
this is the ugliest and most danger
traffic onto the fr eeway; cars in HO V
lanes can pass the signal without stopping.
Although there are tales of driv ers sitting
life-size mannequins next to them in order
to beat the system, don 't use the HO V
lane unless you have the right numbers—
fines begin at $271.
And keep in mind that California has a
seat-belt law for both driv ers and passen-
gers, so buckle up before you venture out.
Here ar e a fe w mor e tips for driving
around:
•
Allow mor e time than y ou think it
will actually take to get wher e you're
going.
You need to make time for traf-
fic and parking. Double your margin in
weekday rush hours, from 7 to 9am and
again from 3 to 7pm. Also, the freeways
tend to be much mor e cr owded than
you'd expect all day on S aturdays, espe-
cially heading to ward the ocean on a
sunny day.
•
You may turn right at a red light after
stopping unless a sign says otherwise.
Likewise, y ou may turn left on a r ed
light from a one-way street onto another
one-way str eet after coming to a full
stop.
•
Plan your exact r oute before you set
out.
Know where you need to exit the
freeway and/or make turns—especially
lefts—and merge well in advance. Oth-
erwise, y ou're likely to find y ourself
waving at y our fr eeway exit fr om an
inside lane or y our turnoff fr om an
outside one. Pulling over and whipping
out your map if y ou screw up is nev er
easy, and it 's near impossible on the
freeways.
ous
freeway in California.
I-605,
the S an G abriel Riv er Freeway,
runs from the I-405 near Seal Beach to the
I-210 interchange at Duarte. It follows the
San G abriel Riv er (hence the moniker),
roughly paralleling the I-710 to the east.
Most importantly, it gets y ou through the
San G abriel Valley up to the edge of the
San Gabriel Mountains.
California 1
—called Hwy . 1, the
Pacific Coast Highway, or simply PCH—
is more of a scenic parkway than a freeway.
It skir ts the ocean, linking all of L.A. 's
beach communities, fr om M alibu to the
Orange Coast. It's often slow going due to
all the stoplights but is far mor
3
e scenic
than the freeways.
A complex w eb of sur face streets com-
plements the fr eeways. F rom nor th to
south, the major east-w est thor oughfares
connecting Downtown to the beaches ar e
Sunset, Santa Monica, Wilshire,
Olym-
pic, Pico,
and
Venice boulevards.
L.A. Driving Tips
Many S outhern California fr eeways hav e
designated
carpool lanes,
also kno wn as
High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes or
“white diamond ” lanes (after the large
diamonds painted on the blacktop along
the lane). M ost r equire two passengers
(others thr ee), and they hav e rigidly
enforced z ones wher e y ou can't leav e the
HOV lane for sev eral miles at a time (I' ve
missed many an exit because of this r ule).
Most on-ramps ar e meter ed during ev en
light congestion to r egulate the flo w of
