Bad traffic in LA: Can Vision LA help end it?

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Traffic stacks up on the west- and east-bound lanes of the 210 Foothill Freeway near Los Angeles as Thanksgiving holiday travelers hit the freeways on November 24, 2010 in Duarte, California.

A lot of people complain about traffic in Los Angeles. Environmentalists have long linked it to air pollution. And businesses say bad transportation makes it harder for them to attract and keep employees. So the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and the Environmental Defense Fund have joined forces to propose Vision LA.

Vision LA starts by examining the region’s transportation grid like a computer: It needs a good, new operating system. Bill Allen of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation says travelers in the not-so-distant future would be able to connect to that operating system with an app that puts all the data at their fingertips.

"A personal cell phone, digital device would tell them what’s the fastest way, what way would have the least impact on the environment, what way will cost them the least. And then offer to issue them a ticket on that mode," he said.

The plan also offers suggestions to businesses: Team up with neighboring companies to provide transportation options for commuting employees. Like shuttle services that take them to and from the nearest Metro stop, or even home, instead of just building more parking lots for their cars.

Allen’s colleague Bob Hertzberg, a former state assembly speaker who knows about government gridlock, says Vision LA proposes a lot of solutions that don’t need government participation.

"Look, government’s frustrated. And they can’t get it done. It takes too long. Here it is literally, company by company. You sit back and analyze them, let them know what options they have," Hertzberg said.

He and other Vision LA promoters hope that government will pull off Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s 30/10 proposal to build 30 years of transit and infrastructure improvements within 10 years. Vision LA will need government agencies to enforce ideas like congestion pricing for traffic control and replacing fixed freeway speed limits with limits that depend on traffic flow. Lead consultant David Grannis explains the thinking behind that idea:

"The freeways are actually already wired. So what if we connect a variable speed sign to the wired freeway and knowing when it’s gonna break down, we start ratcheting down the speeds in advance, creating a more reliable trip," Grannis said.

Grannis says motorists would prefer that more reliable trip to crawling past signs that read 65 miles per hour, even when the freeway is a parking lot.