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The exit for the 5 North from the 110 freeway is a left exit with a wicked left turn. This means that a) people unfamiliar with the area don't know to be in th

The exit for the 5 North from the 110 freeway is a left exit with a wicked left turn. This means that a) people unfamiliar with the area don't know to be in the left lane to make the exit and b) because of the sharp left turn, everyone has to slow down to <25mph and traffic backs up making the exit difficult to merge into if you're late getting into the lane. It's a bad interchange because that one lane can back up for a mile during rush hour. It's such a poorly designed exit that Caltrans recently added in lights to the lane divider in the pavement to signal that people cannot merge into that lane within about 1/4 mile of the exit during rush hour.

jrockway 17y ago
Interesting. Thanks for clarifying.
mhartl 17y ago
Indeed. As a long-time Pasadena resident (and hence usually 110-bound from Downtown), I've learned always to be two lanes over from the 5 North exit lane in order to avoid the "viscosity" effects from the slow-down. I also learned the hard way not to be three lanes over; then you end up on the 101 North instead.* Bay Area residents end up on "101 North", which is even worse. :-)
silencio 17y ago
This does not stop people from changing lanes despite the lane dividers anyway... (also, you forgot c, the people who keep going in the 110 lanes because the sole exit lane for the 5 is backed up a mile to chinatown, who then try to change lanes closer to the exit either dangerously by going from 70mph to like 10 in a matter of seconds or by blocking traffic). I've always wondered about something every time I passed that exit, which used to be on my daily commute for a few years. The exit for the 5 expands to two lanes immediately after the sharp turn. There seems to be enough room to make two exit lanes to get to the 5, or at least good enough reason to expand that little area to two exit lanes right there where there is currently some type of barricade. I wonder why that's never happened, because a two lane exit would probably cut down on the traffic and dangerous merging.

jrockway 17y ago

Interesting. Thanks for clarifying.

mhartl 17y ago

Indeed. As a long-time Pasadena resident (and hence usually 110-bound from Downtown), I've learned always to be two lanes over from the 5 North exit lane in order to avoid the "viscosity" effects from the slow-down. I also learned the hard way not to be three lanes over; then you end up on the 101 North instead.* Bay Area residents end up on "101 North", which is even worse. :-)

silencio 17y ago

This does not stop people from changing lanes despite the lane dividers anyway... (also, you forgot c, the people who keep going in the 110 lanes because the sole exit lane for the 5 is backed up a mile to chinatown, who then try to change lanes closer to the exit either dangerously by going from 70mph to like 10 in a matter of seconds or by blocking traffic). I've always wondered about something every time I passed that exit, which used to be on my daily commute for a few years. The exit for the 5 expands to two lanes immediately after the sharp turn. There seems to be enough room to make two exit lanes to get to the 5, or at least good enough reason to expand that little area to two exit lanes right there where there is currently some type of barricade. I wonder why that's never happened, because a two lane exit would probably cut down on the traffic and dangerous merging.