Is the 101 the nation's worst freeway? Let the debate begin

The notorious Hollywood Freeway is so congested that the Daily Beast recently ranked the 101, during rush hour, as the worst metropolitan-area freeway in the nation.

There are several Southern California freeways that commuters claim are the most congested – and experts say determining which is the worst depends a lot on how one asks the question.

The 405 through the Westside is a perennial champion, as is a section of 91 Freeway between Riverside and Orange counties.

Then there is the dreaded 10 each morning into the Westside. Transportation officials have discussed making major improvements to some of the Hollywood Freeway’s interchanges and bottlenecks – particularly around downtown L.A. at the 101-110 interchange – but those are years away.

Even the mayor’s deputy of transportation, Jaime de la Vega, talked about the ills of the 101 during a casual conversation last week – Vega said he carpooled with his wife to work on that freeway each day, but his commute was hampered because there were no carpool lanes.

Is the 101 really the worst? Or do you have a different candidate? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

-- Ari B. Bloomekatz

Photo: Rush hour traffic on the 101 in Encino. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Al]

Hey Ari, If I'm on a freeway in L.A. that's the worst one in the world!

[prantha]

405, especially at the 134 transition. A nightmare!

[George]

I wish my endurance was good enough to jog between the parked cars on the freeway. I would get to work faster.

Or we can build an adequate metro system. It's embarassing to be the only top city without one.

[lori]

405 is much, *much* worse.

[hairy carrion]

They all stink. And the drivers too.

[Tara Guertin]

I agree its the worst freeway in Los Angeles, but not the world. I can think of worse roads outside New York City, ie. Cross Bronx Expressway, Long Island Expressway and Van Wyck.

[Christopher]

Hands down either the 101 South into downtown in afternoon rush hour and the 101 South at the 405 along with the 405 South at the 101 South in the mornings.

[Paul]

The 101 is bad, but the 5 is much worse.

[Stephen]

Fortunately for the 101, the Red Line bypasses all that traffic with subway service between Downtown and the Valley in under 30 min, where it can take upwards of an hour by car.

And the Expo Line will open in less than 2 years for service paralleling much of the Santa Monica Fwy between Culver City and Downtown.

Rapid transit in the coming decade will open new doors for those fed up with driving.

[Chuck]

I have family in Encino and friends in Riverside while living in the OC. So I get to see both 101/405 and 55/91 alot. And not as a commuter so that my opinion is skewed because I only see them in the rush hour periods. So,.... speaking as a veteran (of many long years) of both routes it is my opinion that 91 between Anaheim and and Riverside is without a doubt the worst stretch of road concievable. I am taking into account the facts that 91 stacks up earlier in the morning and in the afternoon and it remains a mess later in the evening and that the road is often impassable on weekends and holidays as well due to the Las Vegas route. In addition the condition of the road surface is so poor that it is possible to get a massage in a car or loosen teeth on a motorcycle. Since the ill-conceived addition of the Fastrak lanes it has only gotten worse so now in addition to a freeway with combat traffic on it, we have the ugliness of the Fastrak boondoggle as a view, the most wasteful and stupid use of concrete since the construction of the SeaTac Bridge known as "Galloping Gertie". If you are a regular user of either roadway, you have my sympathy, if you use 91 regularly, be watchful for signs of depression and mood swings and stay away from sharp, pointed objects.

[Kate]

The 101 at the 405 would get my vote.

[FOXY ROXY]

the 405 FREEWAY IS BY FAR THE WORST.

[Alan]

As Einstein said, " Its all relative". Depending on the time of day, the month, year, planetary alignments, poor decisions by fellow motorists and a list a mile long, they are all pathetic. What is worse, the fact that there is no known number of traffic lanes that will fix it. Simply put too many people with too many cars. So the answer to the question is that every freeway is terrible given the reality of that instant in time.

It seems to me Disney was actually quite correct in his assertion that the solution was a Monorail along every Freeway. Well maybe not a monorail, but the idea of the using exsisting commuter corridors is the answer. The metro rail is ok, but frankly not optimized to get people on it. The commute to the rail line is half the commute to work me and worst of all it adds time (and we all know to measure a commute in time not distance). For the communities it runs though its great (I wish I was closer). But the fact remains, every freeway is a congested, over used, under maintained, fine for a low population center kind of idea. Man I'd like to get my hands on the guys that killed the Red Cars.

[Gerry]

All we need to do do is use the center lanes, build a train that goes on top, ala the 105, and the problems would be solved! Unfortunately, it'll never get done because they rather spend the money on resurfacing freeways, expanding freeways and etc. More money and creates/maintains jobs instead of fixing the problem.

[Scott Piotrowski]

1) Let's not look at 110/101 improvements until after Caltrans starts to recognize National Scenic Byway status and National Register eligible landmarks like the Historic Arroyo Seco Parkway and the Four-Level Interchange, the first freeway-to-freeway connector in the nation.

2) Let's not EXPAND our freeway system (see the 710 tunnel issues littered througout NELA area rags and blogs over the last year especially) until such time as we have a useful mass transit system, and have improved the bicycle and pedestrian accesses in our region. We need to get commuters out of their cars and onto light rail, buses, bikes, and their feet!

3) Why are we still discussing freeways and cars, with little discussion of High Speed Rail? If so many Californians want HSR in this state, can't we at least have a detailed, honest conversation about how to make this work? This, too, would be a relevant conversation in the transportation mecca of the United States.

[courtney]

The 101's ills are compounded by the lack of traffic reporting on it. News reports often cover the 170 portion of the Hollywood or the 134 portion of the Ventura, but as a Valley resident working downtown I usually travel the 101 all the way. Don't KNX and KFWB realise how many of us are going So/East in the am and No/West in the pm???

[DP]

Can't stand the 210 either way between Azusa and Pasadena - 1 hour for 15 miles...TERRIBLE!

[Joe]

the 5 between the county line and downtown should also be a contender. the 405 is terrible and can be slow any given hour of the day, but the 101 between hollywood and downtown and the 91 near the OC/IE are the slowest freeways i've ever been on during rush hour. however, all but the 405 have rail options, which might possibly make the 405 the worst of all.

[Mr. O]

The worst freeway should be the 710 because of all its damn potholes and commerical trucks causing havoc!

[Steve]

THE CROSS BRONX

[THOMAS46]

I'm so excited that the increase in sales tax to address the freeway system problems has done sooooo much.

As I sit there all I can think is what an abject failure the government is. And, we're all content to sit there.

[ForcaBarca]

The 91 East is the worst freeway. The 91 East freeway backs from near Lake and continues backing up all the way to the 15 East/West transition at almost 80% of the day and night. Atleast the 101 has an excuse since it is an older freeway, built to suit a different time albeit. What excuse does the 91 East have? The 91 East is bordered by a toll road that is empty most of the time, a venture that was massively subsidized but is infrequently beneficial to the people who paid for it: the citizens of CA.

[Bill L]

Sure, the 101 is bad. But come on, we live in the 2nd largest city in the nation! I think it's funny when you tell someone from New York City that you're from L.A., and he goes, "Ohh . . . man, how do you deal with that traffic?" I always think "Yeah . . . 'cause there's NEVER any traffic jams in New York." Big cities are going to have bad traffic. I've been stuck in REALLY bad traffic (at least as bad as the 101) in New York, Chicago, D.C., San Francisco, etc. It's either deal with the traffic or move far away from a large city. I'm pretty sure that traffic is never a problem No-Wheres-Ville, Idaho.

[Gary]

I live on the Westside and I don't think the 405 is especially bad. The 101 from Sunset through Downtown is definitely worse.

[Quatermass]

Heh. Try the infamous "Terwilliger Curves" on I-5 in Portland. You can count on a semi flipping over practically every other day. Or the 6-lanes-merge-into-2 for the tunnel to Logan Airport. "Cobo Canyon" - the death-trap of Detroit.