Some angered by traffic from Obama's visit, but other commuters say the drive was easier than usual

Traffic in some parts of West Los Angeles slowed to a crawl Thursday afternoon and evening as President Obama arrived at LAX, then made his way to the Beverly Hilton Hotel and on to Culver City on a fund-raising swing through the county.

At the latter stop, a few hundred people protested outside Sony Studios regarding immigration rights, the economy and other issues. The protest broke up after the motorcade passed, the Associated Press reported.

Various people complained about the traffic via Twitter, but others said it wasn’t too bad.

Jillian Hunter, of Venice, tweeted that it took her only 45 minutes to get from Beverly Hills to her Venice home. Some reported that traffic was light on the westbound 10 Freeway and almost nonexistent on the  405 Freeway, north of the 10.

Others however, had different experiences.  “Thank you Pres #Obama for letting me sit in traffic in #LA today for over 2 hours -- what were the #CO2 emissions for thousands of idling cars?” @richardcostigan wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, areas of gridlocked traffic were reported. Numerous exits on the 405 Freeway were closed as the president’s motorcade made its way along surface streets. Olympic Boulevard remained open, but there were reports of bumper-to-bumper conditions with motorists honking, yelling through windows and violating traffic rules in an effort to get around the mess.

-- Nicole Santa Cruz

RELATED:

West L.A. gridlock reported as Obama arrives for fundraising events

Obama arrives in L.A.; traffic problems coming to parts of Westside

Photo: Varohi Chahin, center, was among demonstrators Thursday outside an event attended by President Obama in Culver City. Credit: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times 

Comments

[u know]

The quality of the LA Times is just terrible. It used to be a rare instance when you found a misspelled word in an article, but now you see it in the headline of the story.

And they wonder why they have been reduced to a dying product...

[smoon]

There was absolutely no reason the president should have been in Los Angeles on a holy day - he is a ridiculous man always out for himself.
If he cared a hoot he would not have gone to a $35,000 a plate dinner and used the money just on himself.
He is a sorry sight during this blessed holy week.
If only, he had just stopped and helped the poor and the homeless.
instead of blab - blab - blab - blab
and read off the teleprompter.
Such a sorry guy during this blessed holy week.
We will pray for his soul as he has a lot of repenting to do.

[CJ]

I drove from USC to Beverly Hills around 4 PM and from Beverly Hills to Venice around 6:30 PM and had no trouble at all. In fact, I think traffic was lighter than usual.

[kuruc]

la loves obama, they even lie about the traffic.

[My opinon means nothing]

I left LAX at 5:45pm and was home in Sunland coming up the 405 BEFORE 6:30! Traffic? What traffic? Normally, it takes an hour and a half!

[stewart]

I lived one half a block from Olympic Blvd in a cul de sac last year when the POTUS visited the area, the problem as I saw it was, that even though there were saw horse road blocks, there were too few traffic officers posted to 'keep L.A. moving' , and at other choke points where there were traffic officers present, no one it seemed was directing traffic at all?
It seems to me when you have traffic lights cycling at intersections where a road block exists from a right angle, then either turn that signal off altogether, or post some one there to direct drivers to continue moving?
I no longer live near Olympic.

[L.A. Times Moderator]

Hi u know,

What misspelled headline are you referring to in your comment?

Thanks.