US 101 North (CA), Hollywood Frwy, I-5 To CA 170 North

[GeorgeVreelandHill]

Thanks for posting this.

I should do a couple of freeway videos.

However. the last time I was on the Hollywood Freeway, it took me almost an hour and a half to get to where I was going.

Traffic nightmare.

George Vreeland Hill

[Jiltedin2007]

Back in the old days, Cesar Chavez Ave. was Macy Street.

[FreewayBrent]

@Jiltedin2007: Please watch my new video (much improved version) of the Hollywood Freeway. It is the featured video on my home page. I will be deleting this version soon.

[Jiltedin2007]

@FreewayBrent Cool, I can't wait. Will it be the Northbound drive through Hollywood like this video we're watching here? If it's a Southbound drive, I will not want to watch it.

[TVisawesome432]

Have any plans on the 170?

[FreewayBrent]

@TVisawesome432: In all honesty, probably not for a long time. At least in my opinion, CA 170 is perhaps the most boring freeway ride in Los Angeles. Especially when compared to US 101 thru Hollywood and over Cahuenga Pass, the northern half of the Hollywood Freeway (CA 170) is a pretty dull, albeit important freeway. There's a lot of other roadways that are visually more appealing than the 170.

[TVisawesome432]

@FreewayBrent I agree.. They should like build the La Cienega Freeway (what was gonna be the 170), and that might wear out the I-405/US-101 mess.

[FreewayBrent]

@TVisawesome432: A freeway along the La Cienega corridor would definitely help free up city traffic, but there's no way a freeway will ever be constructed thru there (I wouldn't support it either, as there's too many established restaurants/bars/lounges/shops that are popular with west side residents).

[TVisawesome432]

@FreewayBrent Actually, a road more boring than the 170 might be the 90 from I-405 to PCH

[TVisawesome432]

Every time I come to US 101 (from I-10 west) it is ALWAYS rush hour. But sometimes I'm lucky.

[FreewayBrent]

@TVisawesome432: Yeah, there's just simply too many vehicles and only 8 lanes for those vehicles to funnel through. I actually got stuck in some serious stop-and-go traffic from the Gower Street exit to past Alvarado at about 12:30 a.m., last Saturday night. Incredible.

[Jiltedin2007]

I love Hollywood, always have since I was a Little Boy.

[Jiltedin2007]

Only one thing comes to mind on this drive along this freeway. HOLLYWOOD!

[FreewayBrent]

@Jiltedin2007: lol, same here. I'm actually going to be editing this video, and uploading a new version of it. Check out my latest videos, to get an idea of what this video will look like soon.

[Jiltedin2007]

@FreewayBrent Major cool. I can't wait to see the new video. And please, stay on the Nothbound side of the Hollywood Freeway when making a video drive through Hollywood. I live in the San Gabriel Valley portion of Los Angeles County which happens to be in the Eastern Part of Los Angeles.

[Kyukanbun]

I C the truck in left lane!!!

[PanzerVIZeke]

Rail is never gonna happen here in California. We ARE known for our road culture after all. Forget rail, the car is where it's in California. I certainly like being able to drive when and where I want to, not on someone else's schedule. Mass transit is only useful going into downtown areas. Out of downtown, rail becomes very limited and spread out making it of little use.

[Skaterman30000]

@PanzerVIZeke

Yeah, I like the freeways in California. I like the designs and the old overpasses but i live in Arizona. Dude, the freeways there are all like painted in a cool design and the freeways are all re-paved. And it's nice when you're driving through Downtown Phoenix because you can see all the buildings and the Sky Harbor Airport. It's really nice driving around there.

[ExtremeCoastalHiker2]

What kind of software do you use to speed up the video? At what ratio have you sped it up? Is it about 2:1?

[FreewayBrent]

It really depends on a multitude of factors (for example, a lot of curves will make a sped up video appear faster), but I generally stick to somewhere between 3.6 - 3.8x. I believe for this particular video, I sped it up to 3.7x.

Oh, and I use Adobe Premiere Elements 7. 8 just came out very recently, although it doesn't appear to include enough upgrades for me to justify spending the extra money, but it *is* supposed to an improvement over 7.

[hottyMchot]

me to!!! vermont exit....LACC and Family Arcade

[edgexxi]

I miss LA :-(

[differdange08]

@edgexxi

me too, and i have no idea why i do!

LA sucks and rules at the same time!

[oscargdl]

nice freeways =O wish we had that system here in mexico! but the biggest street we got here is up to 5 lanes each direccion and its the only avenue with that much of lanes, but not architecture like you all have overthere xD

for example we have alot of lights here even in important avenues u.u

wee nice vid xD later :D

[keg11382]

great video, but Houston by far has the best freeway system in the U.S., the new I-10 Katy Freeway has a total of 26 lanes, LA really needs more freeways like the ones in Houston

[FreewayBrent]

Yeah, L.A. has decided to focus its transportation spending on its light-rail, and perhaps its future subway line on the west side.

Houston does indeed have what are probably the best designed freeways, although I would say that Orange County in California, Atlanta and the SF Bay Area are more interesting to drive around, mainly 'cause of the geography and the still very nicely built freeways (I-5 in OC, in particular, reaches 26 lanes at the notorious El Toro Y @ I-405).

[bbukfan]

I'd have to disagree. 26 lanes is just wasteful spending, especially since each added lane causes more congestion to exist, which is the mainstay paradox of transport planning. Think about how much money is required to maintain 26 lanes, added onto the fact that people from around the country are paying taxes for the Katy Freeway because it's an Interstate. If cities in the US are serious about cutting congestion, then they should be investing in alternate transport modes, especially rail.

[FreewayBrent]

I agree with you, concerning our transportation spending policies.

In the case of the El Toro Y, that section needs every lane it can get. It flows quite well throughout most of the working day, despite carrying nearly 400,000 vehicles a day.

If we really want to get serious about investing in rail, then taxes will have to be significantly increased. Up here in the SF Bay Area, nearly 85% of the transportation dollars are already spent on mass-transit for sub-par service & coverage.

[bbukfan]

It's sub-par because of bureaucracy and unions, which each into all of that transportation funding. Remember that rail is a far more expensive piece of infrastructure in terms of initial capital cost (because it's an entirely different system) so it's more expensive to keep running adequately. Also, you pay a lot for roads, but the cost is so highly subsidised through federal taxes and a lack of high gas tax that it's hard to see the expense. I still think tolling is the best option.

[eluko79]

Awesome vid Brent! I'd spend so much money on gas just driving around that town. My sister lives in Long Beach. Any chance of seeing the I-710 sometime soon maybe? I'd like to see the LA river in all its natural concrete glory!

[adogg619]

In the very beginning you were actually at the west end of the 60 freeway, which splits off in 3 separate directions to the 101, 5, and 10.

Anyway great shoot, I'm glad to see another L.A. freeway video. Hope to see more of them soon.

[IsoscelesKramer]

Last time I was in LA I drove this at night, it was really cool with everything lit up!

[buckeyegeography2011]

I saw the Hollywood Sign around 2:28. Nice video certainly things have changed on that freeway since I was there back in 1999.

[aswchris]

Awesome. 270,000 on 8 lanes is sick.

You also get a glimpse of the capitol records building :)

[Freewayjim]

Excellent, another classic LA Freeway! Loved the Cahuenga pass section, home of many postcards created in the 1940's-60's.