Need LA traffic advice (Granada Hills to SNA)

[pouncingpluto]

I've found a really great price on flights (and a great deal on rental car too) in and out of SNA. My brother lives in Granada Hills, though, which is much, much closer to BUR (but that's nearly twice the price).

I don't think it'll be a big deal when I arrive in the late evening, but if I have an 11 a.m. flight home, meaning I should be at the airport by 9:30, will traffic just be KILLER? I'm thinking it will be. What if I take an early afternoon flight instead (which means getting home really late)?

If I were on the roads in late morning, do you think the drive would take longer than an hour to hour and a half?

 

[eduk8r26]

Late morning should be OK unless there's an accident or something. Traffic going out of the valley in the morning will be horrible, especially going into downtown LA. After that, it evens out usually.

 

[pouncingpluto]

Ok... glad to hear my instincts were right. I bought the 1:50 return flight. So... be at the airport by 12:30... leave Granada Hills at 11 a.m. or so.

Thanks!

 

[woody73]

Smart move to take the later flight. There's a front page article in today's L.A. Times about the increase in westside traffic (which you fortunately can avoid). Traffic on the San Diego Freeway at Culver Blvd. has increased to 268,126 vehicles per day. Ouch!

Woody

 

[pouncingpluto]

Ouch! I've lived in Atlanta and currently live in DC, which have horrible traffic, but I think LA has us beat.

I realized that even though I'll get home at 11:30 with the later flight (and still have to drive an hour home from BWI), it'll only feel like 8:30 to me, after having been on the west coast for a few days. I'll just have to go in a bit late to work the next day, but I'd probably have to do that either way because of the jet lag.

 

[OCSurfCity]

I hope you will be travelling with others. If so, use the Carpool lanes when they are available.

From John Wayne Airport to Granada Hills, you will probably taking the San Diego Freeway (I-405) all the way up your destination. Typically, in the morning (7:00am to about 9:00am) you will hit traffic from the airport to Costa Mesa; the Garden Grove Freeway interchange (22 & I-405); Long Beach Airport area; Harbor Freeway (110 & I-405); Los Angeles International Airport (Century Blvd); Santa Monica Freeway (I-10 & I-405); Ventura Freeway (134 & I-405) and in some pockets as you are headed up to the Simi Valley Freeway.

The opposite traffic is worse in the mornings so try to avoid the Rush hour if at all possible.

 

[pouncingpluto]

No, I will be by myself, but I will be driving at off-peak times... after 9 or 10 at night and at about 11 a.m. to noon.

 

[joshua121301]

Coming from Granada Hills down the 405 is very unpredictable any time during the day. On average from Granada Hills just to Santa Monica during the week I make it in 45 minutes, but at any time things can go wrong and turn that same commute into 1 1/2 hours. There is no easy answer.