April 25, 2024 Your Source for Brentwood News

The Source of Traffic Problems in Brentwood

By E. Randol Schoenberg

Like everyone else in Brentwood, I’ve watched with horror as the late afternoon traffic on Sunset has choked our community. We never saw traffic jams on Sunset until the 1990s. So, what happened?

I often read articles and hear people suggest that growth in Brentwood itself is the cause. Any new development on San Vicente, or plans to expand our local private schools, is met with fierce community opposition based on the theory that more development equals more traffic. But what if what we do in Brentwood doesn’t really make a difference at all?

I decided to use Waze.com to test my theory that most of our traffic problems are caused by workers in Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades who are trying to go home via the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass to the Valley.

Waze, for those who haven’t used it, is a GPS-based navigation program that uses real-time data from users to provide the fastest driving routes to a particular destination. The program was developed in Israel and was purchased by Google in 2013. Most people use Waze as an application on their smartphone. But you can also use the Waze.com website to find the fastest driving routes.

I tested the route on a Tuesday from 400 Colorado Ave. in Santa Monica with the destination 6230 Sylmar Ave. in Van Nuys. If you were driving with no traffic, you’d hop on the 10 at 4th Street and take the freeway over the hill. You would never drive though Brentwood. But how about when there’s traffic? What would Waze say?

Starting at 4:30 p.m., Waze finds San Vicente to Barrington to Sunset a faster route (1h 4m) than Wilshire (1h 11m) or the 10 Fwy (1h 14m). Brentwood remains the fastest route until 6:30 p.m.

Try it for yourself on the website and you’ll see. Traffic from the Palisades mostly heads down Sunset to the 405. Even traffic from Main Street in Santa Monica is advised to skip the freeway and head north through Brentwood when there’s traffic in the afternoon.

That’s why we see cars lined up past Cliffwood trying to head East on Sunset to the 405.

This also tells us that nothing we do in Brentwood really makes much of a difference. Brentwood could shut its local schools and stop all our driving during the afternoons and we’d still see lines of cars. Unless we stop the external traffic pressure caused by the jam on the 10-405, there is no way to end our traffic problems.

Increasing local trips within Brentwood probably wouldn’t make much difference either. Expanding our schools and building on San Vicente isn’t the looming disaster that so many of our homeowners think it is. That may sound counterintuitive to some, but it makes sense to me (after 50 years of living here).

The traffic peaks long after school gets out, so it’s really not at all about the local schools. When the traffic is at its worst in Brentwood is exactly the time when it is even more terrible on the 10-405 path. That is the cause of our problems. I am not suggesting that Waze is the cause of our traffic. Rather, it is a tool to diagnose the problem.

Lest someone think I have some undisclosed interest, my kids go to Harvard-Westlake and I don’t own any commercial property in Brentwood. I just live here, that’s all.

The solution, if there is one, is to open up more arteries over (or under) the mountains to the Valley.

We should start treating the traffic problem like we did the smog problem. Like smog, traffic has numerous sources and we all contribute to it. Traffic is also, like smog, a classic “externality” where the costs are not necessarily borne by those causing the problem. We only made headway with smog when, prodded by the League of Women Voters, the State of California set up the South Coast Air Quality Management District in 1977. We need a similar regional authority to tackle traffic, and we may need a political movement to get it done.

 

Related Posts

Enroll at Camp Galileo for a Summer of Innovation, Friendship and Fun

April 24, 2024

April 24, 2024

Camp Galileo is ready to enroll campers this summer at its five West Los Angeles locations.  Every week is a...

Luca Guadagnino’s New Film Challengers Serves Up a Sexy Tennis Drama

April 24, 2024

April 24, 2024

Zendaya Stars in a Love Triangle for the Ages in this Must-See Film By Dolores Quintana Academy Award and BAFTA...

Caltrans District & Provides Update on Topanga Canyon Landslide Closure

April 23, 2024

April 23, 2024

Landslide More Serious than 1940s Slide, Involves Thousands of Rocks Caltrans District 7 has updated the situation related to the...

The Getty Museum Adds Vibrant Manfredi Painting to Collection

April 23, 2024

April 23, 2024

17th-Century Genre Painting Now on Display at the Getty The J. Paul Getty Museum has expanded its collection with the...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Reveals Budget Proposal for Upcoming Year

April 23, 2024

April 23, 2024

Mayor Bass’s Plan Prioritizes Housing, Safety, and Accountability Mayor Karen Bass unveiled her proposed budget on Monday, outlining her vision...

Supreme Court Debates Legality of Ticketing Homeless Individuals, Hears Grants Pass Case

April 22, 2024

April 22, 2024

Landmark Case Raises Questions of Cruel and Unusual Punishment The Supreme Court engaged in a lengthy debate on Monday, lasting...

Taste of the Nation Returns to Culver City: Culinary Event Devoted to Fighting Childhood Hunger

April 22, 2024

April 22, 2024

Top Chefs and Tastemakers Join Together May 4th for No Kid Hungry’s Charity Event Taste of the Nation for No...

Extremist’s Arsenal: Felon’s Hate-Fueled Weapons Cache Leads to Federal Time

April 22, 2024

April 22, 2024

Man Was Part of a Hate Group, Posted Calls for Genocide and Racist Remarks Ryan Scott Bradford, a 35-year-old man...

(Video) Ariana Madix Confirms Something About Her Will Open Soon at LA Times Festival of Books

April 22, 2024

April 22, 2024

Ariana Madix answers the questions that fans want to ask at the Festival of Books as she appears to support...

Comedian Michelle Collins Brings her Big Natural Tour to LA

April 21, 2024

April 21, 2024

She’s funny, tall, glam and finally long-legging her way across these United States… it’s the Michelle Collins stand-up comedy tour...

Former CBS CEO Admits Role in Disclosure of Confidential Police Information

April 21, 2024

April 21, 2024

Leslie Moonves Fined for Aiding Misuse of Confidential Data in LAPD Complaint Former CBS CEO Leslie Moonves has acknowledged his...

Los Angeles Police Department Reveals Identity of Victim Found in Stolen U-Haul Truck in West Adams

April 21, 2024

April 21, 2024

Body Found in Rental Vehicle Was Shot in the Head, LAPD Seeks Information Detectives from the West Bureau Homicide Division...

Outrage Erupts Over Demolition of Iconic Midcentury Craig Ellwood Home in Brentwood

April 21, 2024

April 21, 2024

Destruction of Zimmerman House Creates Internet Backlash Preservationists lamented last year when another treasure of L.A.’s midcentury modern architecture vanished,...

Make Science Your Destination This Summer

April 19, 2024

April 19, 2024

Destination Science is the fun science day camp for curious kids with over 15 STEM activities weekly, three science stations...

Prime Time Sports Camps Coming Soon

April 19, 2024

April 19, 2024

Prime Time Sports Camp has remained a constant in the everchanging camp landscape for over 30 years by following this...