What's the fastest way to get through LA from San Diego?

Question

Trying to go to Sacramento, would it be faster to jump on the 1 (Coast Highway) and take that to the 405, take the 405 until San Fernando and get back on the 5, or just take the 5 straight through? The traffic is ALWAYS so bad on the 5 in LA. Help!!!

Answer 1

ALL freeways in southern california are congested. Both the 405 and the 5 have heavy traffic in LA. The fastest way is to FLY...southwest is cheap.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

No...don't take Coast Highway...too many stop and goes through beachside towns, and major traffic especially in the Laguna Beach Area...
you could take the toll road 73 to the 405 to San Fernando and then jump back on the 5, but then the 405 is a mess too going by LAX and Santa Monica... sometimes I like to jump on the 210 to Pasadena, which takes you around LA, it's more mileage but is faster. And then jump back on the 5 from the 210. But if you leave in the middle of the week around 3 or 4 am you should be able to get through LA with no backups at all.

Answer 4

There is only one sure way to get thru Los Angeles on the 5. Stay on the 5, do not deviate or think you can get there faster by leaving the 5. Stay in a middle lane when you see the overhead lanes marked Interstate 5. After you pass the downtown interchanges many freeways will branch off as you start up the 5 toward the grapevine. Stay in a lane that will keep you on the 5 without changing lanes.

Don't worry about the traffic. Keep a slow and steady pace and tell yourself, it will only be a short trip and in an hour I will be out of this.

Do not travel between the hours of 6 am and 10 am or 3pm and 7pm .... If you can help it.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Imagoodgirl has it pretty right...I'm a 35 year veteran of the drive back and forth, and her answer comes pretty close to my intital thoughts. Here are some additional thougths. DO NOT take highway 1. Take 405 only if you are traveling in the morning rush hour...it'll still be bad but not as bad as 5. In the afternoon you get bogged down like crazy around the airport to WEstwood. If you have a choice in time/day, leave early on Sun morning, say around 6 or 7 am and you'll breeze thru on 5. If you have to leave during prime driving times consider taking 15 instead. Some congestion but not near as bad as 5. Another alternative is to go to Foothills Freeway near LA..although miles out of the way the going is close to full speed during rush hour so I've saved a lot of time using that and Hwy 2 near Glendale.,,which is the big untold secret of Los Angeles drive time freeway. Like I said, many extra miles but worth it for the relatively smooth drive.

Answer 6

San Diego To Valencia

Answer 7

Take the 15 north to The 10 west then 210 north through Pasadena then 5 north to the 99 north. You will bypass the LA traffic. Also I-5 in northern California is closer to San Francisco then Sacramento and its real boring. The 99 has lots of little towns to break up the drive.

Answer 8

You can make pretty good time going up 15, then you make connections to the 210 and that to the 5 around Magic Mountain. 405 is slow, 5 through downtown LA is too hectic, see what you have to do, the exact connections, using 15, its a good way, fairly fast and not too stressful...except I think you are on the 10 for a while and thats pretty intense...check it yo

Answer 9

A helicopter is the fastest way, but stay on the 5 the 405 gets just as bad.

Answer 10

I always to the 15 to 210 to 5 route. A little longer but much faster if traffic is bad in LA.

Answer 11

San Diego to Sacramento ( No traffic estimate is 6.5 to 8 hours , on an average 7 hours 15 minutes , just sticking to 5 N all the way)

Peak Traffic In LA : 3 pm to 7pm ( Any freeway going away from the heart of LA downtown ) & 6 am to 10 am ( Any freeway going towards the heart of LA downtown )

Goal of this discussion : To cross the Great city of Los Angeles and Orange County in the minimum time possible. For this discussion we will concentrate only on the Problem area which is San Diego to Valencia,CA ( subburb city of LA on 5 ). The remaining part of the trip is

Option 1: If you are not hitting LA in peak traffic hours or if you are travelling on a Saturday or Sunday (except for entering LA on Sunday evening , use option 2)
stick to 5 N from San Diego
154 mi – about 2 hours 36 mins
Can take up to 4 hours 0 mins if you reach LA in peak traffic.

Option 2 : If you think will arrive into LA between 3pm to 7pm, which means you start in San Diego between 1 pm to 4pm, take this route:
I15 N to 91W to 71N to 10W to 57N to 210W to 5N
175 mi – about 2 hours 54 mins
Just 20 minutes more than the best route, but the best part it the whole route is against traffic in LA, and you should rarely have any problem with traffic until the last part of this route where you reach 5N or unless there is an accident on this route.

Option 3 :If Option 1 or Option 3 dont work for you, and you plan to reach LA between 6 to 10 am on weekdays, which means you start in San Diego between 4 to 6 am, then you are pretty much screwed. It is better to find cheap air tickets but if you have to drive, then try this route.
15N, 210 W, 5N.
188 mi – about 3 hours 3 mins without traffic, but you will still be hitting traffic on 210 W ( people driving to work ) , it would be better if you can car pool on 210 W, you might be able to do this in less than 3.5 hours, without car pool it might still be 4 hours or little more.
Instead, if you stick to 5N , though you will be stuck in bad traffic you might still do it within 3.5 to 4 hours.

If you are feeling adventurous and dont mind seeing some country side you could try 15N to bartsow, 58 W to Bakersfield, 99N & 46W back to 5N ( no traffic for sure ). Before you say WoW, here are the numbers :
From San Diego to Lost Hills ( village on way to Sacaramento, intersecton of 5N and highway 46 ) :
264 miles, 4 hours, 10 min no traffic by just sticking to 5 N
Our adventurous route suggested above would take you 346 miles, 5 hours 29 min, an extra 1 hour 20 min and 80 miles. So try this out if you just cant bear sitting in traffic and dont mind the extra driving. Also, it wouldnt take you 1 hour 20 min extra if you drive at 80 miles/hr on the highways which are marked at 55 miles/hr ( Some Risk included ). It should only be about 1 hour extra. Not bad at all !!!
Now the bad part is, I havnt tried this route, but I feel confident this will work. If someone tries this out , let me know.

Numbers courtesy: Google Maps.

By the way, if you want to see current traffic in LA ,
www.sigalerts.com
maps.google.com ( click on the traffic button ): I use this a lot while Im driving on my pda phone ( dont do this !, i know I shouldnt too while Im driving )

Only 3 years of driving around in LA, but I am information savvy and I love to experiement and find the most efficient routes all the time especially since I am a last minute traveller.