I got a chance to ride to Cali with my friend, Ron, over the weekend...he sold a '56 F-100 to a guy in Anaheim, so we delivered it. Left Denver on Saturday morn, stayed overnite in Mesquite, Nevada and drove thru Las Vegas at 11:00 AM...on the west side of Las Vegas, we got into three lanes of solid traffic...and unreal speeds. My friend owns an '04 Ford 350 dually crew cab pick-up with a twin turbo diesel...behind that was an open trailer with the F-100 on it...we got stuck in the left lane and in order to "keep up" with the BMW's, Mercedes, Caddy's, Lexus' and Corvettes, we rolled along at 90 mph...at one stretch we hit 100 mph in that traffic, with that trailer following along like it was nothing...the slow lanes were running at 75 and 85 mph...we decided that 100 per with a trailer was just a bit too dangerous so we edged into the 85 mph lane... But, that wasn't the worst...the worst traffic jam I ever saw was as were heading back to Las Vegas on Sunday nite...we delivered the truk, grabbed I-15 and motored out of San Bernadino at 6 PM, going east...the westbound traffic on I-15 was bumper to bumper...all the way down the hill from the summit of Cajon Pass, three lanes of headlights...Thot 'oh,man, wouldn't want to be stuck in that one.' Little did I know...from the summit all the way east up to Barstow, about 40 miles, it was the same...hundreds of cars bumper to bumper, moving at no more than 35 mph. I have no idea where the highway narrowed into two lanes, but from Barstow to Las Vegas there wasn't a gap between the cars...one solid line of headlights...211 miles of cars/people leaving Las Vegas and going home to somewhere in Los Angeles...I can't imagine the number of cars that were on that highway...and I am not exaggerating when I say it was a solid traffic jam. I was certainly glad we were going east and not west in the middle of that mess! How do you guys in Los Angeles put up with the insane crush of cars and people? It's unreal out there...Denver is getting bad for traffic, but nothing even close to what you have out there...I'm glad I don't have to put up with it... R-
Sissy! Welcome to BenD's world. BenD does that regularly, week in and week out. Only, he does it with the truck AND the trailer loaded. It is a little spooky when you are not used to it. Kinda intimidating, aint it?
man thats not a traffic jam comming from vegas... thats just sunday night. got the same dipshits heading out to lostwages on friday night to give all thier cash to the casino's used to see that crap every weekend when i drove for CF a few years ago... bumper to bumper from mira loma to vegas
Sounds like any direction from Toronto (here) at rush hour. Bumper to bumper for 150 miles at 20 mph.
there are so many roads that need to be widened.... I have lived in most of the major cities on the west coast and Traffic is bad, but the last 5 or 6 yrs it seems to have gotten even worse.. Doesn't matter if its LA, SF, Portland or Seattle, its stopped more then it moves anymore...
there's a supposed rumor (i heard it when i was in HIGH SCHOOL) that the I-15 (besides getting widened) is supposed to get a mangetic rail??? well, so far there's been alot of talk, but nothing done...at the rate we're going here in CA, it may take you 1 hr to drive from the end of your street to your driveway... i used to live right off the 10 East in Alhambra, El Monte was really only 5 mins away on the fwy, but it used to take me 45 mins. in rush hour traffic...i really think at this point that "rush" hour is long overdue for a name change...
Welcome to Southern California... Everyone moves to Vegas on the weekends. There are are only so many ways out of here and that one is probably the most congested. They have been working on the 15 Fwy for years, by the time they get it done (3 lanes to vegas) they will need 2 more! That means it is just a perpetual money maker for whoever has the contract to expand that freeway!
Ive heard the same thing about a bullet train to Vegas but no sign, however if you notice on the 15 between Victorville and Barstow looks like they may be planning for something like that?
35 mph! Holy Crap that's moving! Seriously, usually the traffic during those hours is alot slower. You just learn to deal with it, or, you go postal and take your pants off, park on the overpass, light yourself on fire, and shoot yourself with a 30-6 at point blank. Seriously, it happened.
Used to think it was bad, I'm sure it's the usual now. And it's growing. More and more like that in the bay every goddamn day...
yuppers!! was up in Calico in January and that separation on the 15 looks too weird to just be an extra lane-wider fwy!! WOO HOO-- CAL TRANS DID SOMETHING RIGHT!!!!!!! shoot, i just jinxed it, didn't i?
LA traffic is nothing compared to bay area traffic. I mean...there's insane amounts of freeways down there. insane amounts of people. But it seems like the people down there have their head at least slightly out of their asses down there. Traffic moves a bit slower. Up here we have stupid traffic. Like a tiny fender bender on the other side of the bridge and I end up in stop and go traffic on the bridge for 45 minutes driving a stick with a freshly repaired left knee. Just stupid stuff. It rains...all hell breaks loose. People going 30mph...just the other night...all the while I can go right by them doing 60 in my cadillac with nothing but rainX on the windows... That vegas drive sounds a lot like the 580/205/5 and visa drive over here. Took me 4 hours once to do it coming into work in the morning from staying at my cousin's place. Screw that...it's maybe an hour and a half usually. errr...don't get me started on traffic man.
true! from 92 I go 280n to 19th ave to the GG bridge. Yesterday suxxed. Jees its just a little water! there are 4 lanes on 280, you wanna go thirty, fine with me..just get over three lanes and let me keep doing the speed limit!. my 50 minute commute was 80 minutes yesterday for that very reason.. Dont these people know that 280 is the american equivelent of the Autobahn?
Kojack, the commute over the hill to Tracy has gotten alot worse in the past few years.. used to backup in Pleasanton and livermore then clearout over the pass, now its bumper to bumper until the split just outside of Tracy...
Worlds longest actual no moving traffic jam happened I believe before christmas of 1980. 268 kilometers of trucks which is maybe 160 miles of trucks nose to bumper,trying to get into Iraq when they closed the border because of the war with Iran. The frontier was closed for six weeks. Don't want to do that one again. Gimme L.A. anyday!
From Alhambra to El Monte - at rush hour in the late 50s and early 60s Valley Blvd was faster than the two lane San Berdo freeway. Back in the days of Art Lebow (sp?) and the Radio Show, direct from El Monte Legion Ballroom. Am I old or what?
I used to live in O.C. in the early nineties. Thought the 405 past Lax was bad back then jeez. And having driven both, The bay area sucks far more than So Cal. You guys are nuts up there and don't care! I drive 99 from Fresno to Modesto about everyday. It's bad enough down here, but as I get closer to Modesto you can see the difference and whos from the Bay Area. I moved to the valley to get away from you fuckin people!!! aaaah! I'll take my two lanes of crappy blacktop anyday over 580/680/etc...
In the uk we get what are known as phantom jams,this is where one cars slows the one behind goes slower until a car stop when this happens everything comes to a halt especially a motorway near London called the m25 it is not unusual to have 15 miles of traffic at a complete standstill for hours..............Marq
I guess we better not gripe to much about the 180 gap and McKinley curve, eh Muttley. I love Fresno rush hour, I love Fresno rush hour, I .........
The Jalopy Journal
