Is 880 the stupidest freeway in the world? (Los Angeles, San Diego: moving to, speeding ticket)

[Lifeshadower]

Originally Posted by matt345

As someone who just moved to the Bay Area from LA, I had to revive this thread and add my two cents. 880 has got to be the absolute worst freeway I've ever driven on. Nothing down in LA, not even the 710 before the recent resurfacing, compares to it. Cars shouldn't even be allowed to drive on that one portion just south of downtown Oakland; it's so bumpy with so many (enormous) potholes, I kept on thinking I had blown out a tire. And yes, the drivers on 880 are complete nut cases.

Why in the world haven't they done something to fix this road (or at least that one stretch)? It really is this one freeway that sticks out in the entire Bay Area. By comparison, 24 just a few miles away is one of the smoothest freeways I've ever driven on.

Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. I'm someone who drives on both LA and Bay Area freeways regularly, and I would say that 880 is probably the worst freeway I have ever driven on barring third world countries. It's kind of counter-intuitive, especially considering that 880 isn't even the most busy freeway in the Bay Area (80 and 101 are). It doesn't help that 880 goes near some of the poorest tracts in the Bay Area.

However, 280 and 24 are some of the smoothest freeways in California, even moreso than those in Orange and San Diego Counties. However, unlike in LA, the Bay Area freeways aren't as gridlocked in traffic as they are in LA. Try driving on the 5 between the SFV and Anaheim in rush hour (which I did this past weekend). Best 3 hours of my life...NOT!

[jrb724]

880 - All those trucks kill the roadway much faster. It also goes through some of the poorest areas in the east bay. Bay Area in general has worse roads than LA. I'm not too familiar with LA but I believe 710 would be a good comparison since it has a lot of truck traffic from the ports as well.

24 & 280 - Both go through some of the wealthiest parts of the Bay Area. It's not suppose to be this way, but money talks. The density is also lower along those freeways.

[andyadhi01]

I drove the 880 several time and the drivers there are not bad. If you ever drove in Texas cities like Dallas or Houston, you will know that the drivers on 880 are saints compared to the Texans. Actually I like the 880 because people that drive there actually want to be somewhere fast. Bay area drivers are too slow and not motivated. Coming from Texas I get road rage all the time because of the slow drivers here.

California roads in the horrible conditions compared to Texas. I would even guess that CA has the worst roads in the entire developed world! Everytime I drove to CA from out of state like from NV or AZ you can simply tell when you are in CA by poor pavement quality as soon as you cross the state line. Its truly a mystery what the CA govt does with all the tax dollars when they can't even get a pavement quality right!

[bentstrider]

Originally Posted by jrb724

880 - All those trucks kill the roadway much faster. It also goes through some of the poorest areas in the east bay. Bay Area in general has worse roads than LA. I'm not too familiar with LA but I believe 710 would be a good comparison since it has a lot of truck traffic from the ports as well.

24 & 280 - Both go through some of the wealthiest parts of the Bay Area. It's not suppose to be this way, but money talks. The density is also lower along those freeways.

Not trying to jump on your case or anything, but most of this road-damage could be attributed to how the truck is loaded and how it's maintained.

Most of the time, these port drivers are either independently owned by a sole driver, or they're a small fleet of tractors pulling contracted container and ran by some dip that enjoys doing the "fly-by-night" thing.

However, as bad as some new commercial driving regulations coming out this year are, they'll probably go a long way in curtailing some of these questionable operations to either shape up or ship out.
I've driven for both a large company that took care of its equipment and ensured drivers stayed out of trouble, and small companies that were only about "any which way you can/don't give a _hit".

Let's also not forget the actual quality of the road when it was first built and if it was even originally intended for semi-truck traffic.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by jrb724

880 - All those trucks kill the roadway much faster. It also goes through some of the poorest areas in the east bay. Bay Area in general has worse roads than LA. I'm not too familiar with LA but I believe 710 would be a good comparison since it has a lot of truck traffic from the ports as well.

24 & 280 - Both go through some of the wealthiest parts of the Bay Area. It's not suppose to be this way, but money talks. The density is also lower along those freeways.

880's truck concentration is unique in the Bay Area... even if they weren't banned on 580, most of them would use the Nimitz anyway to get to the port and to San Francisco, because 580 is all sweeping curves and elevation changes and they get plenty of that already coming over the Altamont. Same reason why you never see them on 280 going up the peninsula, even though they're allowed all the way up.

[zugor]

Hi BA folks. Thank you all for this reminder about one of the reasons that I retired to rural VA after living in Oakland for 32 years. We've had unusually heavy snow this year (schools have been closed for 2 weeks) and yesterday I was thinking about the weather back there compared to here.

Actually I was remembering how about this time of the year when I was tired of the chilly, damp weather I would go camping at Furnace Creek down in Death Valley to get a few days of sunny, warm, dry weather.

Only about half the roads in this county are even paved and nobody is in a hurry to change that. They like living on a dirt road off of another dirt road and ya gotta have a 4 wheel drive pick up to get to their place much of the time.

I think I prefer this to the very high stress of urban driving, even when there is an unexpected delay because there are a couple dozen cows in the roadway who thought that the grass really is greener on the other side. Everyone just stops their cars/trucks and gets out and helps the farmer round them up and then make a temporary repair to the broken fence. Then we all go on our way, a nod and a wave and a smile are all the thanks we need. Next time it might be us who needs a hand.

Stay safe everyone and try to avoid the Nimitz if at all possible. We'd miss you here at CD.

[Boompa]

Yeah but on the 580-80 by Richmond you are going east and west at the same time

[Lifeshadower]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

California roads in the horrible conditions compared to Texas. I would even guess that CA has the worst roads in the entire developed world! Everytime I drove to CA from out of state like from NV or AZ you can simply tell when you are in CA by poor pavement quality as soon as you cross the state line. Its truly a mystery what the CA govt does with all the tax dollars when they can't even get a pavement quality right!

I agree with that wholeheartedly. There's such a contrast between California's roads and the roads of neighboring states, especially Nevada. CalTrans has to be the most inefficient sector of the state government, which is quite a feat considering how inefficient California government is as a whole.

880 is a showcase of how poorly a major urban freeway can be maintained. In addition to the many trucks and bad drivers, there are also plenty of curves within Oakland that is waiting for someone lose control and crash. Even better, anyone ever notice going northbound how instead of a jersey barrier or some kind of wall, there's a building that forms part of the freeway wall north of the 23rd street exit?

Google Maps

There's a crash waiting to happen..I wouldn't want to be inside there when it does.

[AcroJimmy2]

101 North from San Jose up to around Redwood City is no picnic either. Not as bad as 880, but still pretty bad

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Boompa

I kind of like I-580 and I-80 Berkeley to Richmond where you are traelling East and West at the same time

LOL! and two freeways at the same time. Gotta love those east bay freeways.