what time of day can i drive through L.A. and not get snarled traffic?

Question

I live in S.F. east bay area.
Last friday I drove south to Dana Point (halfway b/t LA & San Diego, off 5). I hit awful 4 pm traffic. Saturday was bad everywhere. I drove north Sunday & hit awful traffic around 2pm on hwy 5.
Is there a time of day to travel through LA without hitting traffic? Is 2am any good?
Which is better south: hwy 405 or 5?
Which is better north?

Answer 1

I'm from the East Bay (Walnut Creek) and I've lived in San Diego for six years now and have done that drive at least 4-5 times a year. I usually travel late at night and avoid all the traffic. I-5 is the fastest and most direct route from SD to The Bay Area. I usually leave SD around 630 or 7pm and get in the Bay at like 1 or 130am. When coming back I would leave the Bay Area around 5 or 6pm and get down here around midnight or 1pm. Although I did make the trip in 5 hours and 15 minutes last time when I left the Bay Area at midnight.

Since you are doing the opposite commute than me, I would leave the Bay Area around 7pm on Thu or Fri b/c 580 eastbound traffic is really bad going over the Altamont Pass and you will have no trouble when you get to LA. For the return trip I would probably leave at maybe 5 or 6pm from SoCal and you'll usually avoid any LA traffic. Take the 5, it's more direct. i;ve been on the 405 Sunday night at 11pm before and there was traffic over the Sepulveda Pass heading north. Leaving around 6 or 7pm usually will take you 6-7 hours from Dana Point/SD so you should get into town before 1 or 2am, which is still late but not too bad.

Answer 2

Becky, You just can't go through L.A. from 2:30 to 8:30 on Fridays, so you have to actually be in Orange county by 2:30 Friday afternoon or plan to go through town say around 10:00pm or later...You should just have heavy traffic, not stopped traffic, the other times you mention, unless there is an accident.. I suspect the 5 is shorter than the 405 but you will probably be traveling this route frequently so you can experiment and see what you think....Only love makes people make this drive...LOL

Answer 3

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RE:
what time of day can i drive through L.A. and not get snarled traffic?
I live in S.F. east bay area.
Last friday I drove south to Dana Point (halfway b/t LA & San Diego, off 5). I hit awful 4 pm traffic. Saturday was bad everywhere. I drove north Sunday & hit awful traffic around 2pm on hwy 5.
Is there a time of day to travel through LA without hitting traffic?...

Answer 4

Take the 405 rather than the five. Sunday AM is good before 9:00 you can get from dania point to Santa Clarita in about an hour and a half.

The trick is to leave early on Sunday if you are driving back to the bay area. Coming down here for the weekend try not to be in the LA area on Friday between 4:00 pm and about 9:00 at night

Answer 5

Hey I live in the East Bay too. I have driven to Vegas at least 6 times. I say if you leave by noon while people are still working or after morning traffic you should be ok. You can get to Vegas between 9-10 depending on how many stops you take.

There is no getting around LA traffic. I think you should actually miss most of LA's traffic though. I would run a few directions from Mapquest and Yahoo maps and see what route they take you.

Answer 6

Honestly, when driving IN to Los Angeles the best time to hit the 5 (which is much quicker than the 405 though not as scenic) is to hit early in the morning. If you left SF early in the morning (say like 3:30am?) you could probably get to Dana point with very little traffic. This applies mostly to Sunday morning. Saturday morning would be a little more trafficy. Of course, it it's during the weekday then it's hard anytime unless it's in the middle of the night. Good luck! (Doesn't traffic suck??)

Answer 7

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Answer 8

2-4am would be a good window to cruise through LA.
I would definitely opt for the 5, though. There is less scenery to distract people from the driving you need to deal with.
The 405 has probably never had a day, where there were no sig-alerts.
Sunday is chancy with just about any city you drive through since a great many people are returning from wherever so they can be ready for monday.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

NEVER!!!! Driving to LA is the worst traffic ever. Whatever you do, don't take the I-10. It's AWFUL!!!! You could try going at 2am, but the weekends are bad whenever you go. Good Luck. Happy Driving =)