Commute from Glendale to Long Beach

April 21, 2011 8:09 PM

LA Traffic Filter: How long will it take me to drive from Glendale to Long Beach tomorrow morning? And when should I leave to arrive by 8:00am? And what's the best route?
posted by JPowers to Travel & Transportation around Los Angeles, LA (5 answers total)

If you really really need to be there by 8, then you should leave at 6:45. Route slightly depends on where in Long Beach you're going, but mostly you'd want to take the 5 to the 710. From the 710, you can either take the 405 or stay on the 710, which spits you out into downtown Long Beach.
posted by incessant at 8:23 PM on April 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was going to say leave at 6 and you'll cruise down there with no trouble, and then you can find a coffee shop to sit down in and have some breakfast before you go do your 8am thing.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:51 PM on April 21, 2011 [4 favorites]

I think BlahLaLa has the right solution.
posted by thankyouforyourconsideration at 10:41 PM on April 21, 2011

Leave at 6:00. The five is extraordinarily shitty through that section of downtown, you'll need the extra time.
posted by arnicae at 12:23 AM on April 22, 2011

Damn, I just saw this, I hope you made it in time. Yeah, leave at 6. That's a good rule of thumb for getting across L.A. in the morning - hit the freeway by 6 - any later, and all the other people hitting the road at 6:05 will slow you down to a crawl.

I used to commute across L.A. in a few different directions. The thing I noticed was how the on ramps went from light to heavy right at 6 a.m. If you are behind by ten minutes, it can make a twenty to thirty minute difference on the other side.
posted by Xoebe at 12:31 PM on April 22, 2011