fordido

Quite unfortunately, I'll be making the drive to Palm Springs (actually Rancho Mirage) right in the thick of rush hour on Friday night. I'll be leaving from Culver City (10 & Robertson) at 530pm.. any suggestions as to the best way to get there?

10E all the way?
Mapquest gave me 10E - 60E - 215S - 10E

What do you think?

Thank You!!

rjw_lgb_ca

That is absolutely the worst time to try to get through downtown LA on I-10. Here is one relatively convenient alternative:

Take Sepúlveda south to I-105. Take it east to I-605 N, then take that up to the 10 or the 60. Listen to any and all traffic reports to determine whether the 60 or the 10 is your best bet heading east.

What this will do is help you avoid the stretch of the 10 between the coast and downtown LA. Just getting to West Covina on the 10 from Culver City could take you upwards of two and a half hours. As it is, my suggested "detour" will still be quite congested. I'm pretty sure that the Artesia/Riverside freeway (CA-91) option would be even worse.

mlgb

Personally, I would take 10 E all the way. You could check Caltrans before leaving. Fridays are not significantly heavier than normal for Downtown traffic. Thursday nights are worse. I would suggest delaying your departure, about an hour. If you leave it 5:30 it'll take you about an hour longer, so why spend it in traffic?

I don't recommend taking the 60 at this time due to the tie-ups at the 215.

rjw_lgb_ca

mlgb, I have experienced Friday evening traffic through downtown LA on the 10. It literally took me 2 1/2 hours to get to West Covina from Santa Monica. The whole Palm Springs trip was 4 1/2 hours. On empty freeways it should take less than two hours at posted speed limits.

You may be right that Thursdays are worse, but I'd still try to avoid the downtown LA stretch of the 10 during Rush Hour every weeknight. At least my alternate gets you past downtown before you have to cut north to the 10 or 60. Then again, I must admit I haven't done the drive through LA in a few years (I live south of LA)....

amwosu

rjb_lgb_ca, I thought of you this weekend when I was in Long Beach. Visited the Aquarium of the Pacific and took a whale watching cruise with my 16 yr old son. Supposed to do a Segway tour from The Pike but he wouldn't be caught dead on one- too touristy for him. Will go back and do it with DH in August. We don't care how geeky we might look on a Segway!

rjw_lgb_ca

amwosu, I hope you had fun in our gritty little town! The Segway thing could be fun, but on principle I have to avoid things like that (I need the calorie burn!).

mlgb

I used to work downtown and drive to the desert on the weekends. The hard part is not getting thru downtown. It's out near Pomona, and I suppose getting from the westside to downtown is never easy.

mlgb

My neighbors at my condo drove out from Studio City. Their ride was usually under 3 hrs. I think the worst they ever had was 3 1/2. I suspect rjw, your problem was that you were leaving from Santa Monica.

rjw_lgb_ca

From the Valley you have the alternative route of I-210-- when you can get to it. And naturally catching the Hollywood Freeway to get to the 10 will get you mostly around Downtown.

And you're right-- of course my problem that memorable Friday night was leaving from Santa Monica. But truly-- I-10 through Downtown LA was literally a parking lot. By the time I hit Pomona, everything was moving again (and my blood pressure was into four digits).

Nowadays I don't even bother. I leave from my home in Long Beach; my monumental schlepp can take a couple of different routes and never takes longer than 2 1/2 hours (especially cuz I never leave during Rush Hour).

Can you imagine what outsiders think about southern Californians bickering about travel routes? I imagine we all set out for places with at least four alternate routes running in real time through our heads. Who needs a GPS?