Question: How's the 55 freeway between 7-8AM?
 

Hey, I might be taking a job in Irvine and was wondering if anyone knows how the 55S is between the 5 and 405 at around 7-8am? When does traffic start to pick up?

Thanks :D

Unless you have a bike, it's gonna be BAD. A co-worker I know commutes from Brea/Placentia to Lake Forest and he says thats prolly the worst time. On his bike its about 25 mins but traveling via car is near 45mins - 1hr. Goodluck.
Where in Irvine you gonna work? I live near there, maybe we can meet up sometime.

55 is bad. I work in Irvine and I guess you get used to the traffic

I live in Brea / Yorba Linda area; had to take the 57, 5, 55 to Newport early one day. It's horrible. At least 45 min if you're lucky around that time. My dad's job is getting moved there, and he's thinking of moving to Irvine.

This is southern california, there is only one thing you should expect: traffic. The traffic hours for all freeways are from 6am through 9pm on weekdays. :icon8: You cannot escape traffic, if there is no traffic, it will be self-created by slow drivers or car accidents. :icon14:

Write to your congressmen why the freeways haven't been expanded the last 25 years.

Kill me now!

/rant off

Very, very true...unfortunately. :icon20: :icon14:

You're joking, right? Besides the fact that SoCal has the most diverse and expansive freeway system in the US, there are freeways that have been in continuous upgrade mode.

For example:
1. 22 Freeway - Currently under construction to make wider. I'm not sure how many lanes per side but this freeway cannot handle the volume of vehicles on it in its current state (according to many politicians and CalTrans). I differ from this opinion but I'll discuss that later.

2. 55 Freeway @ the 405 - Recently finished transition upgrades and lane expansion.

3. 91 Freeway - 10 years(?) ago they expanded this freeway to include the toll lanes. I have no idea what the hell the problem is with the traffic on this freeway. There is plenty of room for all the cars travelling on it but people insist on making things difficult for themselves and creating traffic.

4. 5 Freeway by Disneyland was upgraded not too long ago (~3-5 years ago).

5. 57 Freeway @ 91 - Upgraded transitions within past 10 years.

My idea for why traffic is so bad and congested is due to a few reasons:
1. Poor planning of traffic flow by CalTrans engineers especially when it comes to freeway interchanges, mergers, and lane endings (a good example is the 55N with both 405 North and South in addition to the MacArthur onramp entering the 55N at the same location AND a lane ending/merger).

2. People suck and cannot drive. IF people would stop tailgating and being so damn pushy behind the wheel and allow at least 2-3 car lengths between each other then there would be plenty of room to brake quickly (if needed, of course) and avoid an accident, allow room for people to make safe lane changes instead of cutting people off, and overall would greatly help improve the flow of traffic.

Other things that would help are eliminating 'random brake checking.' I'm refering to those drivers that insist on playing footsey with their brake pedal for no reason.
Better driver education to re-inforce the basic driving principles such as checking blind spots before changing lanes.

Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a tangent here but I know all about the construction in the north OC area because it has been part of the problem for me with regards to getting to work on time consistently and driving me nuts with how many streets are FUBAR'ed because CalTrans is working on too many projects all at once. :icon11:

Good info anomaly.

I believe the problems are a combination of things, mostly craptastic drivers and following rules of the road.

At the same time, by nature, people will tend to be more cautious on these spaghetti transitions with undulations and curves.

I drive the 91 every day and it sucks especially since I would've expected going east wouldve been a helluva lot better than going west towards LA. Takes me friggn 35-40 minutes to go 13.4 miles.

For a meeting this morning, I took the 405S today instead of using the 5S/55S/405S knowing how much I hate the 5 around Santa Ana. It took me longer just to get to the 405 by local streets but the speed on the freeway was well worth avoiding the 5.

You wonder why we're the shooting roadrage capital though it's not like the east coast where they honk their hearts out thinking it's going to help (maybe it's cathartic thereby relieving tension).

L337350,

Walking is faster and I am not kidding.

Tony

this place will be so screwed if there is a big quake

Watch out for stopped traffic on 55 from 405 south onto 55 north interchange. You don want to rear end anyone. :)

I take the drive from the Downey area to Santa Ana everyday of the week and the traffic sucks..it does not help that both my cars are stick. I may start to ride to work but too many people seem to be changing lanes in the morning.

Dont even get me started on the 91...

Let me just say 60-215-91 interchange...

Been the same ever since they built the freeway whenever that is,

thier upgradeing it now... they started in 2003 shceduled to finish 2007.

if you live in yorba linda and you want to get to irvine, simply hop onto the 241 toll road and take it into irvine :)

i currently take the 91-605-405 to get to work in long beach and the 91-605 is decent but once you get close to the 405 it gets pretty bad, so i'm used to having to sit through a bit of traffic. it already takes me 40-50 minutes to get there from fullerton

if i work in irvine i'll take 57-5-55. i know a couple of people that take harbor all the way down, but i dont see how that could be any faster

The Toll Road is one way. Another way would be to take the back roads. From AH to UCI it takes about 30-40 min.

1. Take Imperial Hwy south
2. Left on Santiago Canyon Rd.
3. Right on Jamboree Rd.

That will get you to Irvine faster than taking the 55 south.

Taking the 55 from the 5 to the 405?

Leave 20m earlier and its no big thing.

Leaving at around 6/630 AM, I drive 34 miles.... 57s to the 22e (bypassing the 5) 22e dumps me on the 55, which I take past the 405 to the 73.

40m drive max. 25m at 5am :)

Going home, well you gotta get the heck out of dodge before 3pm, especially on Fridays. Surface streets can actually be faster.

-Ted

I've learned my lesson! I live in LA, work in Irvine. I drive 710 SB, 5 SB, then 55 SB. The 4 miles I drive on the 55 has taken me around 20 minutes in the past. I just changed my work schedule so I start at 7 now. I'm on the 55 SB at around 6:30 to 6:45 am. Not bad at all. Once you start rounding 7 o'clock, the whole area by the 5/55/405 gets HORRIBLE! This is not to mention:

1. All of the big trucks with gravel driving around ready to shoot one off the back tire at your beautiful car
2. People in HUGE SUV's and trucks that show no mercy for HOT Sports cars (Big Truck Attitude)
3. Idiots who can't be patient and SPEED and STOP and SPEED and STOP. Screws everything up when we all move like caterpillars.

The best solution? Work 7-4 or 9-6. Your Z will give you a much nicer ride and thank you for it. I spend about 2 hrs a day on the road now and before I had the occasional days where I was in traffic for 3 1/2 hrs!