How to Save Time and Money Driving from West Los Angeles to the Los Angeles Airport Area

I live in West Los Angeles, and have suffered for many years through the daily drive to work near the Los Angeles International Airport. As a result, I have paid close attention to traffic patterns and have found a number of ways to save time and money (on gasoline) along this route because, let's face it, who wants to spend any more of their lives than absolutely necessary driving? Even 5 minutes saved every work day adds up to about 1,000 minutes or almost 17 hours saved every year.

This article is written mostly for those who live in Los Angeles and commute daily to work on the 405 Freeway, but it will be useful for anyone traveling in the Los Angeles area. Those unfamiliar with the area might need to refer to a map or use a GPS device as an aide to get oriented in terms of the advice that I give below. So here we go.

The street that feeds into the 405 Freeway from West Los Angeles is Overland Avenue. Driving East or West on Olympic Blvd. to get to Overland, I have found that there is a bottleneck going south between Olympic Blvd and Pico Blvd because it is one lane and another at the Olympic/Overland intersection when making a left turn (going west on Olympic). The trick here is to drive one block past Overland, turn south onto Selby Ave, drive one block, then turn left (east) and go back to Overland. Even though it is slightly out of the way when going west (you end up driving one block further west and then have to drive one block back east), just missing the light, possibly multiple times, will take a lot longer than the time associated with the small amount of extra driving.

Another way to save time and money is to adjust your schedule to avoid traffic on surface streets. Even a 10 '" 15 minute time shift can make a big difference. When driving south on Overland, there is a private school near the Freeway entrance that has a drop off that seems to build up starting at about 7:45 am and that lasts until about 8 am. As a result, there is a line of cars that often blocks the right lane as cars stop to drop off the students. Cars in transit then shift over one lane, and everything slows down, both for those who want to continue driving south on Overland and those who want to get into the onramp lanes. Avoiding this 15 minute period will save time regularly.

Sometimes there is a very long line to get onto the onramp. Since the entry to the onramp is at the top of a long sloping hill, when driving south, it is easy to see far in advance. You can then get into the right lane (remembering to avoid the 7:45 '" 8 am time period) and turn right onto National Blvd. Drive west about one mile to just past Sepulveda Blvd and enter the 405 Freeway. Again, this entry is easy to see from a distance because you have to drive under the freeway overpass to get to the onramp.

As for the 405 Freeway itself, I have found that getting on the freeway by 7:30 am will almost always end up in free flow driving all the way to the airport area. Once on the freeway, move to the fast lane and stay there until near wherever you want to exit. It is supposed to be the fast lane and usually is '" you are the farthest from the entry lane, where it is almost always slower. Also, at the Marina Freeway (90), the carpool lane starts, so cars regularly shift into that lane and free up the fast lane even more.

If you want to get off at Rosecrans Blvd going south (just past the airport), there is another secret to saving (a lot of) time. Most people who want to go west on Rosecrans when driving south on the freeway exit at the sign that is labeled "Rosecrans West" (seems logical), rather than driving a little farther to exit on Rosecrans East. However, there is almost always a long long long line on the Rosecrans West exit ramp. However, going to the east Rosecrans exit and turning right on Hindry Ave gets you back to Rosecrans anyway, where there is a left turn (west) option (and of course a right turn, east, option). Although there is usually some line there, and the wait can be a while if you just missed the light, it is almost always going to be much faster during rush hour to choose this option.

Finally, occasionally when approaching Rosecrans, you will see a giant backup of cars because of a regular backup at the South Bay curve that starts just past Rosecrans. Then, zig over to the El Segundo Blvd offramp that actually feeds into La Cienega Blvd, turn left and then either right or left onto El Segundo Blvd, depending on where you want to go. Turning left will get you to Inglewood Blvd; turning right will get you to Aviation Blvd.
I will write another installment for going north from the airport area in the afternoons, which is more complicated and more challenging.

I will write another installment for going north from the airport area in the afternoons, which is more complicated and more challenging.