The San Diego Traveler

How to Get Home Quicker

by Carole A. Lane on February 21st, 2007

This is a guest post by a loyal reader, Brian, who writes a parenting blog about his 3 new kids recently adopted from Ethiopia.  Thanks, Brian!

If my math is correct, there are nine different combinations of freeways to get me home at night.  With the 5, 805, 15, and 125 running north/south, the 78, 56, 52, 8, 94 and 54 running east/west, the 163 running at a diagonal, plus all the side streets, most people have many choices on how to get home each night.  The most direct way can be the fastest, but not always.  Starting today, figuring out which way to get home just got a little easier.

You can now dial 511 on a phone to get up-to-the-minute traffic information.  You can also dial that number to get information about ridesharing or transit information.  There’s a companion website www.511sd.com that has all the same information if you happen to be in front of a computer before you head out the door.  Here’s my additional tips for getting home quicker:

• Some interchanges are like the plague, while others are a breeze; find the ones that work.
• Bottlenecks in the morning aren’t necessarily there on the opposite side of the freeway in the evening.  I take a different (longer) route to work in the morning than I do in the evening because the 805 is jammed in the morning between the 8 and the 52, but generally moving pretty well in the evening going the opposite direction.
• Find the on and offs that work - it’s amazing how many places you can get off the freeway and get right back on passing up numerous people in the process.  Use a big truck or unique car that’s staying on the freeway as a marker to see if you’re really moving faster by getting off and on.
• The new website has a drive time calculator (press the button on the left with the car and the clock).  If you’ve got choices for different routes, check the different options on the calculator (they will show up on the right) and be flexible.  Once you’re in your car, listen to the reports on the radio and be prepared to change routes mid-trip.

Of course, the biggest problem is that no one wants to share their top secret route for fear that everyone will start going that way and it won’t be the fastest anymore (I’m holding back on you right now). Got any tips (perhaps from your old commute) on how to beat the traffic and get home quicker?

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