James E. Moore II, chairman of USC's department of industrial and systems engineering and director of the transportation engineering program, writes in an LA Times op-ed piece that "if Metrolink service were discontinued tomorrow and all those passengers got back in their cars, there would be no perceptible change in freeway congestion or travel times." He goes on to say that "Metrolink actually makes traffic conditions worse because it consumes resources that SCRRA's member agencies......

The 10 Freeway, Looking West from the 17th St. Bridge | Photo by GarySe7en via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The battle over Proposition T, a ballot initiative Santa Monica voters will be voting on in November, is heating up. $428,879.00 has been raised since June by a group named "Save Our City" to oppose the proposition. 15 of the 37 givers, mainly developers, were from outside the city, according to a document Prop......

It's probably one of the least heard of tickets, especially given to a bicyclist. But a ticket for signaling and then not turning was apparently handed out to one Critical Mass rider in Santa Monica on Friday night. Fellow rider to the cyclist and a photographer Alex Thompson said it was "biased enforcement." Santa Monica Critical Mass and Santa Monica Police have a history of meeting up every first Friday of the month. Hundreds of......

Since it's considered not only the busiest freeway intersection in the city, but the country, here's a little heads up for tomorrow morning: "The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will close the northbound San Diego Freeway (I-405) connector to the east- and westbound Ventura Freeway (U.S. 101) Sunday, October 5 from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. for maintenance work. The northbound I-405 Sepulveda Boulevard on- and off-ramps will also be closed."......

It's a weekend packed with festivals and sporting events that are sure to take a toll on traffic. The LA Times reminds us that things could get pretty snarled up on the roads around town: "USC plays Oregon at the Coliseum at 5 p.m.; the Cubs are at the Dodgers at 7 p.m.; Washington State plays UCLA at the Rose Bowl at 7:15 p.m.; and singer Neil Diamond performs at Staples Center at 8 p.m."......

Photo by GarySe7en via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The RAND Corporation came out with a study today focusing on short-term transportation policy options that could improve transportation in the city. They based their findings on what they see as the problem of Los Angeles traffic: mainly cheap and abundant parking and polycentricism (various sub-centers instead of one downtown area). And one of the more interesting reasons why traffic reductions are usually temporary seems......

If live, work or are traveling today, here's a reason to plan ahead, or at least know why you'll be stuck in heavier traffic during the evening rush hour tonight. Westbound Century Blvd. will be closed from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. with drivers being diverted north to Aviation, then west on Arbor Vitae to Airport heading south and back on westbound Century. Eastbound lanes exiting LAX will not be affected. But why is this happening?......

Photo by hexodus... via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr This morning, the city launched its Tiger Team V to focus on patrolling, citing and towing illegally parked vehicles in the city's top 25 "hotspots" where said vehicles slow down traffic. We asked for the complete list and they provided. These locations were selected by the number of citations issued from June 2008 through August 2008. Check below to see if any of these streets......

For their fifth installation of the notorious Tiger Team who patrol, ticket and tow illegally parked vehicles along high traffic corridors during morning and afternoon rush hour, today they released the team across the city. And instead of patrolling one sprawling thoroughfare like they've done in the past (example, 4.2 miles of Sunset Blvd. from Vermont Ave. to Laurel Canyon Blvd.), Tiger Team V will hit 25 of the city's "Hotspots" (most frequently parking violated......

It's another day in the fight between Santa Monica City Hall and proponents of Proposition T, the city measure that would "establish an annual limit on commercial development" in an effort to slow down traffic growth. In this round, city staff asked city council about beginning to impose a traffic impact fee on developers, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press (.pdf). But Prop T proponents said the city already took a similar action in......

Every fiscal year, the city studies the worst intersections in order to see what fixes they can make to immediately improve them. The program, called Operation Bottleneck, entered its fourth phase today. It will give drivers at the busy intersections more green signal time, that is if you're driving on the busier thoroughfare. If you're not, you're probably looking at more red time. Phases I through III made technical adjustments. Phase IV adds the "human......

Photo of Pilgrimage Bridge via Historic Bridges of the United States Recently there was a brief news item on LAist (and some ensuing traffic headaches) about some construction materials spilling onto the 101 Hollywood Freeway near the Pilgrimage Bridge. Sure, most of us have driven through the Cahuenga Pass on the freeway or northbound on Cahuenga or southbound on Highland and have passed the Bridge, or we've crossed it--maybe en route to the Bowl......

Photo by sesshin via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Travel + Leisure came out with their America's Favorite City 2008 guide with lists shows how visitors and residents voted. For visitors (and well, residents), we came in last for--no big surprises here--traffic. And well, we also hit the bottom of the list for public transportation and pedestrian friendliness. And maybe we can blame these woes on our friendliness and intelligence, both of which ranked......

Hip-Hop Heavyweights The Game and Bow Wow battled in a game of Madden on Xbox for charity Friday night in Hollywood | Photos by Konsole Kingz Because there is a Michael Strahan-like gap between the amount of fun had in playing a video game and watching someone else play a video game, the answer I most frequently give when posed with the question "Want to watch two guys play Madden in Hollywood?" is "No." However,......

As of 8:30 this morning the last wave of starts for the 9th Annual Los Angeles Triathlon took off, completing the waves that began at 6:45 a.m. The participants will swim one mile starting at Venice Beach, do a 25 mile bike race through parts of Fairfax, Wilshire and Hollywood, and end with a 10 kilometer run that terminates at Staples Center. Street closure began over night, and some will not reopen until early this......

The eastbound 105 freeway was shut down in the Willowbrook area after a dead body was found a little before 5:30 a.m. near the Wilmington Avenue Exit. Initial reports said that all lanes would reopen by 9:30, but as of 9:05 a.m., SigAlert indicated traffic as a-okay, save for the 110/105 connector.......

Heads up to all those who use the 710. On Thursday night, from 9:00 p .m. to Friday morning at 4:00 a.m., the whole freeway, both north- and southbound, will be closed filming, according to Caltrans. For what film? We're not sure yet, but we figured the earlier the warning the better.......

An LAPD motorcycle officer was struck and injured late this afternoon near Western Ave. on the westbound 10 Freeway. The LAPD reports that the officer is in fair condition with complaints of back and neck pain. The CHP ordered all lanes to be shut down at 5:03 p.m. but as of 5:09 p.m., only one lane was closed.......

View Larger Map A motorcycle accident claiming the life of a man in his 30s who died on the scene has forced the closure of all lanes of the Northbound 110 transition to the Eastbound 91 in Carson. The accident took place at around 6:00 this morning, reports abc7.com, and authorities are investigating on scene.......

Photo by Skalas2 via Flickr In today's city council session, there was a big discussion regarding congestion pricing on the 110 Freeway which would basically let non-hybrid solo car uses use the car pool lane for a price. Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who voted for the measure (and it did pass), had a concern about the lanes because they bottleneck, in her opinion, due to the inability to get in and out of the lanes......

In 2006 and 2007, 400 school children in the City of Los Angeles were injured in traffic collisions while being picked up or dropped off at school. Some of the most significant traffic congestion in our city occurs in the morning and in the afternoon in the immediate vicinity of our schools. Children who walk or ride a bike to school these days must jockey for position with School buses, Mass Transit and family vehicles.......

This doesn't even look like a crosswalk, but this is is a scramble crosswalk in Tokyo | Photo by Julie Wolfson/LAist Come Thursday, UCLA folk and others will have a new way of crossing the street at Le Conte and Westwood. It's called a scramble crosswalk and is currently in use in Pasadena, Beverly Hills and at Hoover and Jefferson near USC. It's where pedestrians can cross the street from all four corners at......

There's a local initiative facing Santa Monicans this November regarding development in the name of traffic. The Residents' Initiative to Fight Traffic's (RIFT) ballot measure would amend the land use element of Santa Monica's general plan "to establish an annual limit on commercial development" within the city until 2023. The working theory is that traffic can't increase much if new jobs aren't made available in new developments. These days, SaMo traffic is pretty gridlocked and......

A pavement rehabilitation project will force the closure of lanes tonight on portions of downtown area freeways. Up to three lanes on the 10 between the 101 and 110 freeways will be closed in both directions along with various on- and off-ramps starting tonight through Thursday, according to Caltrans (.pdf). Most closures will begin after 7:00 p.m. and go through 5:00 a.m.......

The Bottleneck Blog is reporting this afternoon that the "California Transportation Commission just unanimously approved the plan in Los Angeles County to convert the carpool lanes on parts of the 10, 110 and possibly the 210 freeways to toll lanes." But blogger and LA Times Road Sage also cautions those who drive regularly on those freeways to not panic...yet. The plan still has to make it through the state legislature before you'll be coughing up......

Mayor Villaraigosa speaks at a press conference with Councilman Bill Rosendahl and LADOT General Manager behind him | Photo by Tyrone D. Washington, Mayor's Office Have you seen these signs attached to signal poles around the city? It's part of the city's synchronized traffic light system and today, the latest one, the $6.9 million Westchester/LAX Signal Sync System, was put into operation. “Today, we are giving commuters here on the Westside the green light,”......

Keeping in line with being one of the best transit-oriented neighborhoods in the city, the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council voted last night to support Councilman Eric Garcetti's sharrows pilot project motion by giving $5,000 to the project. "If passed by the Council, and enacted by the City's Department of Transportation, the Fountain Avenue Sharrows route would initially run about 1.5 miles from Western Avenue on the west to the Sunset Blvd diagonal on the east--located......

We are all about the "people first" concept, which is planning for people, not cars when developing a new building or road. However, pedestrians still need to follow the law. Saturday night's traffic in Santa Monica for the Glow Festival was only worsened by the fact that pedestrians would cross streets against the walk signal's "don't cross" hand. Witnessed at just about every intersection, this left vehicles in all directions backed up and clogged at......

Photo by stop.down via Flickr The LA Times has certainly taken the Mandeville Canyon story and run with it. But that's a good thing, it's a conversation that has been needed for a long time and to see the city's largest media outlet take it head on is a good sign for positive results. Here's some of the latest, which leads today's online California section: With the city of Los Angeles in the early......

Yesterday, we highlighted Steve Hymon's explanation on why there is traffic in Los Angeles. We started off by saying something we heard LA City Council President say to a group of people a year ago. In a phone conversation with his office, we said we stated his thoughts, but very simply and that if he wanted to clarify and expand, to please do so. Garcetti did just that in the comments section this morning. Here's......