210 Freeway: Gridlock!

The 210 Freeway -- welcome to California! The opening of the freeway ended with gridlock, in true L.A. fashion. The eastbound traffic moved fine. But the westbound traffic jammed at the 15 Freeway. Commuters faced about 15 minutes of standstill traffic before the ride smoothed out.

-- Tiffany Hsu

2

Comments

[russell]

It is amazing that transportation dollars can be wasted so completely.

[Terri]

I live in Altadena and work in Downtown LA. I take the Goldline to work during the week and am so grateful that it runs in the direction I need to go. On the weekends it would be perfect if it ran further in the eastwardly direction. They desperately need to extend it to Claremont. That would open up the 210 Fwy and alleviate all of that dreadful traffic. I occassionally jump on the 210 Fwy to Arcadia when I want to catch a movie at the mall. Traffic has gotten increasinly worse over the years and what used to be a 10 minute shot to Arcadia is now closer to 1/2 hour. Something has to be done.

[suvro]

I live in Altadena and roll down the hill to work at Caltech. But on weekends, I often need to use 210 (primarily going east to 605 South and 57 South to get to Orange County). Since the 210 connector opened about 2 years back, weekends have been miserable. What used to take 1 hour, now often takes 1.5 to 2 hours (sometimes 605 and the 57/60 interchange will also add to the 210 delay). I have scouted alternate routes (Foothill Blvd. - actually not quite, but streets parallel and to the north of Foothill) and also streets south of 210 that put me on 605 South directly. But these are also often jammed at the same time, or the lights impede smooth flow. It has become miserable, even for occasional weekend commuters like me.

If the Metro Gold line is extended to Ontario airport, will that ease traffic? People commuting to Pasadena from the Claremont area could probably use park and ride services. I know a lot of people who work in the Pasadena area and commute from Glendora and points further east. Something needs to be done for the foothill community. I think I am going to write to my county board of supervisor (last time I complained about local streets, I got instant response and work has begun on the street).

[albert]

I slowed down to an absolute crawl last Friday on the 210 E , Pasadena , lost about an hour from 6 to 7pm.
Traffic is ridiculous , I look for some public transportation substitudes but cant find anything in my area , its always breaks off making it impossible for me to use. The routes are not connected and the walking time to and from stations is 1 hour.