Why does the Hollywood Freeway jam up at Vermont?

Question

I'm referring to US Highway 101 in Los Angeles. It tends to get slow in both directions around Vermont Street even when the rest of the route is moving freely both before and after Vermont. There's no loss of lanes, and the curves don't seem any sharper than elsewhere on that freeway.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, I do not live in So Cal so I cannot speak directly to your question; however, I experience a similar oddity. I live in the Twin Cities area. I live south of the Minnesota River. Crossing the river is a pain. For some unknown reason when traffic on 35W (way south of the bridge collapse) get to the river (in either direction) it slows down. There is actually a truck lane heading northbound for going up the hill and it still backs up. Of course, the trucks don't use the lane so I use it to pass them.

Maybe there is something unusual about the interchange. Is it a clover leaf? Is it metered? Maybe stupid people live in the vicinity.  ;-)

Answer 2

Most likely reason is that is where most of the vehicles get on the freeway...And maybe everybody gets religion because of the highway patrol office there...I agree - the 101 always seems to have indigestion at that juncture irregardless of time of day.

Try taking Temple a little further east or west to one of the other streets in the area that has access to the 101, such as Silver Lake or Alvarado.

Answer 3

It's the cops giving tickets for tailgating !! At least that's what happened to me at 5:35 in the afternoon. WTF?