Radio Station & avoiding freeways?

[spendleb]

Hi all, two questions for you all, firstly does anyone have a recommendation for a great Radio Station, something that covers good music, traffic reports, weather reports etc that we can listen to when on vacation?

Secondly, it is feasible to be able to avoid freeway use as much as possible, for example we are staying in Newport Beach, can we easily drive to Disneyland and Knotts etc without hitting any major freeways?

Cheers,

 

[iceskatejen]

Since I don't know what kind of music you like, I can't suggest a radio station, but most have drive time (6-8 in the morning and 4-6 in the afternoon) traffic reports.

Unless you are really familiar with the area and it's side streets, it's probably better to just use the freeways. I usually find I end up losing time by using side streets and I'm pretty familiar with them. If the traffic is really bad on the freeways, it's probably going to be bad on the surface streets too (plus there you have to deal with traffic lights). Plus the distance to DL and Knott's from Newport Beach is too far not to use the freeways.

 

[spendleb]

Many thanks, there goes my idea of avoiding the freeways! A friend has just returned from a trip encompassing Vegas, Palm Springs, San Diego and LA and the only bit she hated were the LA Freeways and this was her first time driving in the States!

PS I like chart music mostly

 

[cryssi]

for music, you might like 102.7 KIIS FM. For news, traffic, and weather, I like KNX AM 1070. They give traffic and weather every 6 minutes.

 

[dletz]

From Newport beach you can take Harbor blvd straight up to DL, and PCH to Beach straight up to Knotts (those are the most straightforward). Though I agree with IceSkateJen that you're not going to save any time especially on those streets. They're congested, and full of traffic lights. There are some areas where you may actually only move 1 or 2 car lengths per green light.

I usually listen to 980 AM for traffic and weather. Though it will be hard to understand the traffic reports if you don't know the area. They don't always give freeway numbers, but rather names, or descriptions of interchanges (such as we have one called the orange crush) if you have not clue what they are it's pretty useless.

 

[mill4023]

The only thing worse than L.A. freeways is L.A. surface streets.
Yes, the freeways suck. No, you won't reduce time and anxiety by avoiding them.

 

[RalphMouth]

stay on the freeways-

there are parts of LA I wouldn't want to be driving in if you are taking
'side' streets...

It's not worth getting into a bad neighborhood where you will 'stick out'
as a tourist with a 'rob me' sign on the side of your car.

 

[jxgriffi]

If you're coming from Newport Beach, it will actually be a lot easier on the freeways. I'm assuming you'll have more than 1 person in the car. If this is the case, when you get on the 55 Freeway north, get in the carpool lane. You can stay in the carpool lane all the way to Disneyland. (For reference: 55N, 5N, exit Disney Way from the carpool lane).

For Knotts, you want to do that same, but do not exit Disney way. Instead, exit the carpool lane at the "Exit Here for Euclid Ave" sign and proceed to the right lane. Just past La Palma will be the 91W. Take the 91W and stay in the right lane. It will exit you at Beach Blvd. Turn left and get in the right lane and Knotts is on the right side just past La Palma.

Even at peak times, the carpool lane will save you time....

 

[spendleb]

Thanks all, this is all really useful!