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Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

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Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#21

Post by bestnameever »

duxup wrote: post #15
bestnameever wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they can be minimally quicker once Waze catches on. One of my current shortcuts that I've taken for over 10 years dropped off the Waze radar during the summer when traffic is less. With school back in session, I am now saving 15 minutes on my commute. However, once Waze catches on and starts sending folks down my shortcut, I'll be lucky to save just a few minutes. It is for this reason I don't let any apps track my c…

When i'm on a detour of sorts I often look around and wonder... "Are we all just following google?"

I'd wager that over 90% are. It literally go's from me driving the route all by myself to me driving in an endless caravan of car's once Waze starts recommending the route. For this route, it's not even just Waze. Apple recommends the route as well.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#22

Post by beowulfey »

someguydave wrote: post #11

If the government wants to be the big daddy of traffic control then it should also build sufficient lanes to keep the roads moving.

It’s generally accepted that more lanes does not equal less traffic, and can often lead to the opposite effect due to the effect of induced demand [1]. I personally believe providing multiple alternative transport options is more effective but obviously that’s a matter of opinion...

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#23

Post by gibolt »

BooneJS wrote: post #13
valiant-comma wrote: post #2

When these articles show up now and again, it’s not clear to me why the various impacted cities don’t choose to ban through traffic. Some articles have implied that this is not possible. Los Altos did this a while back[1]. Is there a legal issue the communities surrounding Los Angeles want to avoid, that Los Altos simply took the risk on? [1] https://slate.com/business/2017/06/suburbs-finally-figured-o...

Menlo Park has a few streets labeled local traffic only as well.

Palo Alto has quite a few as well. Some are just marked with signs, many have physical barriers allowing only bikes and large trash collection vehicles to easily pass.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#25

Post by tjr225 »

duxup wrote: post #5

In LA are these shortcuts worth it? I was surprised to find with Google maps more often than not it suggests to just take that busy highway that is crawling alone because ... it really is faster. I've tried to defy google maps ... rarely do I win. Granted google maps is wrong at times. During snowstorms it loves to send me down off streets that haven't yet been plowed or ... worse random county roads you do not want…

For about six months before I moved closer to work I had a super commute between Olympia, WA to Kent, WA just south of Seattle. I do not recommend this.

Anyways- for the first month or so I used Waze religiously as this is a notoriously bad commute. I realized after a few nasty trips through Fife that unless you were among th very first few people to catch a rerouting, the roads people were routed to were painfully undersized to handle freeway traffic. I have not used Waze since and am very cautious when following Google map redirections.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#26

Post by da_chicken »

chrisseaton wrote: post #3
valiant-comma wrote: post #2

When these articles show up now and again, it’s not clear to me why the various impacted cities don’t choose to ban through traffic. Some articles have implied that this is not possible. Los Altos did this a while back[1]. Is there a legal issue the communities surrounding Los Angeles want to avoid, that Los Altos simply took the risk on? [1] https://slate.com/business/2017/06/suburbs-finally-figured-o...

> it’s not clear to me why the various impacted cities don’t choose to ban through traffic Can you physically turn the streets into cul-de-sacs? Where I live a lot of domestic streets are cul-de-sacs presumably to prevent too many people driving past.

My small town did this 20 or 30 years ago with a number of residential streets that were commonly [ab]used for shortcuts. They erected barriers that consist of a curb across the roadway and a series of three or four "no entry" and "dead end" signs. Inconvenient, but it stops through traffic.

Tucson and Phoenix have another alternative. The cities are built with the main roads being a large grid. Subdivision roads are twisty and higgledy-piggledy. It's almost always too inefficient to cut through a subdivision to bother trying.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#27

Post by Synaesthesia »

lemmox wrote: post #24

I had no idea Waze was powered by anon crowd sourced map editors. If anybody here is doing it, what's the motivation? Personally I'd never disclose my shortcuts or free parking spots.

Google maps and Apple maps traffic is cross sourced anonymously too

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#28

Post by Scoundreller »

swsieber wrote: post #7
chrisseaton wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it’s not clear to me why the various impacted cities don’t choose to ban through traffic Can you physically turn the streets into cul-de-sacs? Where I live a lot of domestic streets are cul-de-sacs presumably to prevent too many people driving past.

Speed bumps go a long way too by dropping the effective speed.

My city seems to do this with more unorthodox methods: cheap out on road maintenance and engineering.

Oh sure, take that side street with all of the sunken sewer grates.

My mom’s street was riddled with potholes. We were happy when they repaved it, but blew it when they put up speed bumps.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#29

Post by DoreenMichele »

swsieber wrote: post #7
chrisseaton wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it’s not clear to me why the various impacted cities don’t choose to ban through traffic Can you physically turn the streets into cul-de-sacs? Where I live a lot of domestic streets are cul-de-sacs presumably to prevent too many people driving past.

Speed bumps go a long way too by dropping the effective speed.

And by raising the aggravation and discomfort levels. Some people will avoid streets with speed bumps if they can find an alternate route because they dislike them so much.
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