Don't tell Cathy Glueck about traffic on Los Angeles' Westside.
Zigzagging along surface streets in her heavy-duty Ford Flex, which she affectionately calls her "schlepper-mobile," she's become adept at finding the fastest routes to shuttle her children to evening sports practice from their home in Beverlywood.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 2 inches; 63 words Type of Material: Correction
Westside traffic: An article in Sunday's California section about traffic on Los Angeles' Westside referred to Rodeo Drive and Ocean Park Avenue. The street names should have been Rodeo Road and Ocean Park Boulevard. The story also indicated that Palms Boulevard was a north-south thoroughfare. It actually runs east-west. Also, a secondary reference to Beverlywood resident Jana Richland misstated her name as Richmond.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, June 28, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 2 inches; 65 words Type of Material: Correction
Westside traffic: An article in the June 21 California section about traffic on Los Angeles' Westside referred to Rodeo Drive and Ocean Park Avenue. The street names should have been Rodeo Road and Ocean Park Boulevard. The story also indicated that Palms Boulevard was a north-south thoroughfare. It actually runs east-west. Also, a secondary reference to Beverlywood resident Jana Richland misstated her name as Richmond.
If Pico Boulevard is too crowded, which it usually is, she'll snake along winding side streets through Cheviot Hills and work her way to Sawtelle and Olympic boulevards to leave her 15-year-old daughter at soccer practice.
Then she'll circle back, eyeing the flow of cars along the way, as she looks for the best route to cut across Culver City to reach Jefferson Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, where her 7-year-old daughter has gymnastics practice.
Total time to traverse the 10 or so miles: 60 minutes, if she's lucky.
For Glueck, who jokes that she operates a taxi service, more time on the road means less time to take care of everything else.
"There's always so many things to do," she said. "That loss of freedom is real for me."
In Southern California, the automobile has long been synonymous with freedom. Need to go to the store? Jump in the car. Meeting friends for dinner? Not a problem.
But that's not easy to do in Westside communities, where drivers face some of the worst traffic conditions in the nation. As a result, people take longer routes, change routines, limit family outings or don't drive at all during certain times of the day.
For years, Los Angeles transportation officials have tried to get ahead of the problem by collecting traffic data at hundreds of intersections.
But they admit that they're not equipped to deeply analyze it because they lack enough staff.
The data do confirm, however, that Westside traffic is constantly changing. For example, last spring and summer -- with gasoline prices hovering around $4 a gallon -- traffic volumes saw double-digit drops as fewer people chose to drive. Then, as prices declined to around $2.28 a gallon, traffic volumes swung back up.
So now that summer gas prices are slowly rising again, life may become at least a little easier for parents like Glueck and fellow Beverlywood resident Jana Richland, who refuse to let jammed streets block opportunities for their children.
"It is definitely on the forefront of my consciousness," Richland said of her efforts to cope with traffic.
