Evening traffic has become so bad, Geshke said, that she rarely takes her children to eat burgers at one of their favorite hangouts. The restaurant is on Ocean Park Avenue, a busy evening artery for drivers heading east to a nearby 10 Freeway onramp on Centinela Avenue.
"It became like a disaster to get there," said Geshke, who lives less than two miles away.
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.
Glueck, the Beverlywood mother who shuttles her children across the Westside, said her 7-year-old daughter "has spent most of her afternoon life in the back seat of my car."
On a recent evening, things were going well after she left her older daughter at soccer practice in the Sawtelle neighborhood, Glueck said.
Her next stop was gymnastics class near Baldwin Hills.
She often heads south on Palms Boulevard to navigate through Culver City. But cars were moving at a decent pace along Sawtelle.
So she stayed where she was.
She got trapped in traffic at Venice Boulevard.
Congestion at that intersection, next to a busy offramp and onramp for the 405 Freeway, can vary widely from day to day.
In a count taken in April by Los Angeles' transportation agency, 30,414 vehicles drove Sawtelle. That was a 34.8% increase over a count taken a year earlier.
Glueck vowed she would never drive that way again. But she's been on the Westside long enough to know that the next street might not be any better. "I try to think how much time I need, but it's never enough," she said.
"It's my Achilles' heel."
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robert.lopez@latimes.com
