> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Reassessing Los Angeles’ traffic ills
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/reassessing-los-angeles-traffic-ills/
- Published: 2007-07-28T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:23:14.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Government & Politics, Main St, #archive-import, Homelessness

*RAND discussion focuses on ever-present gridlock*

CITYWIDE Nearly every driver in Southern California gripes about bottleneck traffic, mumbling and sometimes even cursing behind the wheel as pedestrians seem to be making better time.

Along the same lines, seemingly every driver holds an opinion about how to alleviate the logjams, throwing out suggestions such as adding more carpool lanes, building more freeways and encouraging alternative forms of transportation.

While such actions could have an effect, the answers may lie more in the hands of politicians than technicians.

“The question of what we do with traffic is a political question,” said Martin Wachs, a transportation expert with the RAND Corp., a non-partisan think tank based on Main Street in Santa Monica.

His words came during a panel discussion on Los Angeles County gridlock at RAND Corporation on Thursday, identifying the causes behind the problem and possible solutions to relieve congestion on freeways and streets.

The talk featured expert opinion from Wachs, who heads the Transportation, Space and Technology program at RAND, county Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky and former state assemblyman Richard Katz. The event was one in a series of RAND policy forums on major issues; previous ones encompassing topics such as homelessness and nation-building in Iraq.

Gridlock has long been the bane of Southern Californians’ existence, with the average Los Angeles commuter spending 29 minutes traveling to and from work in the car, ranking behind only New York City, Chicago, Newark, N.J., Riverside and Philadelphia, according to a 2005 U.S. Census study.

The study found that Americans spend, on average, about 100 hours commuting every year.

“It’s horrible,” said a woman on Friday, who commutes from her home in the Pacific Palisades to work on the Third Street Promenade.

“Debbie,” who declined to give her last name, said she hits traffic 50 percent of the time taking Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica. If there’s an accident on the PCH, which happens quite frequently, she said, the commute could take about an hour.

“Traffic is affecting quality of life,” she said.

Traffic is a “troublesome byproduct” of economic success, according to Wachs. The challenge in solving congestion is doing so without affecting economics.

People want more shopping, more housing, more schools and a booming tourism while keeping traffic down.

“Well, good luck. It’s not going to happen,” Wachs said, drawing laughter from the audience.

Though it might seem so to long-time drivers, congestion levels and speeds are no worse now than they were years ago, Wachs said. Rather, traffic has spread geographically and now lasts longer, mainly because commuters have left work earlier and later to avoid traffic.

Adding more lanes, more rail lines and buses could result in improvement, but the traffic would spread over time, Wachs said.

There are ways to reduce traffic between 15 and 20 percent, Wachs said, listing ideas that include creating more bike lanes, shifting the movement of commercial goods from the morning to the later evening hours, and increasing incentives for people who use alternative modes of transportation during peak traffic hours.

Implementation comes down to political courage, Katz said.

“We have a solution today that would take 20 percent of traffic (out),” Katz said.“It wouldn’t last long... (but on) the day it opens, it would take 20 percent out.”

Los Angeles is unique in that it is both dense and vast geographically, while most cities would claim one or the other. It’s one of the challenges facing the county in spending money to address congestion.

If a compass was placed on the Eiffel Tower and a seven-mile radius was drawn, it would include most of Paris. The same goes for Big Ben in London, Yaroslavsky said.

But in the city of Los Angeles, a seven-mile radius from City Hall would only reach to La Brea, Yaroslavsky said.

“For a billion dollars here, you reach bup-kis,” he said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 28, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/072807.pdf?ref=smdp.com)