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Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 7:10 AM

SD Traffic Report

Boy, the local traffic conditions have changed. It used to be that if you were heading southbound of I-5 on a Saturday afternoon you’d be stuck in a grinding bumper-to-bumper crawl from Oceanside to Del Mar.

Not any more (58 sec):

Posted on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 7:10 AM in Local Flavor | 9 Comments » | Print Print You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Reader Comments: 9 Responses

  1. Couple of thoughts:

    1. I have noticed it too. We went to LegoLand yesterday and didn’t come to a complete stop at the 5/78. This despite gas is now relatively inexpensive. Probably has to do with people just not able to go on mini vacations to SD anymore. The IE is slaughtered and hanging on a meat hook.

    2. San Diego County just announced that finally the population is increasing through net domestic migration. I have to at least question that statistic. If there are more poeple, they are driving less, eating less, and shopping less. I have noticed a lot fewer “international immigrants” hanging around Home Depot and in general driving around. That’s gotta account for something.

    PS. I actually dread when the economy comes back. The traffic down the 5 was nearly unbearable on weekends.

    Chuck

    Chuck Ponzi | December 21st, 2008 at 8:16 am

  2. Yeah, I’ve seen this noticeable drop in traffic congestion as well. It’s really nice, I have to say. What were all those people doing, driving granite counters to their flip properties? It’s hard to understand.

    Dwip | December 21st, 2008 at 8:59 am

  3. I’ve noticed the same thing. No complaints, but, where did everybody go?

    KC | December 21st, 2008 at 10:17 am

  4. The increase in population is concentrated in babies. They don’t drive, eat out, or need their own house. =)

    BDiego | December 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pm

  5. Baja tourism has crashed. The traffic is still gnarly during the work week, but the traffic always seemed to be worst during sat/sun all day long.

    SurferNate | December 21st, 2008 at 7:36 pm

  6. SurferNate – I agree, totally dude. Weekend traffic used to be worse than weekday. I think it was because LA folk came down here and said hey, this is a freeway, I’m supposed to drive slow, and that’s what they did.

    Jim the Realtor | December 21st, 2008 at 8:53 pm

  7. I believe it is much better since the new carpool lanes have opened starting at Manchester. That’s where the mess always started. Also, they were building those lanes for 2 years, thus creating more traffic.

    Todd | December 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am

  8. Want to really notice it? Drive around SD county on a SU when the Chargers game is on TV and they are winning!

    Its a ghost town on the roads.

    Jim, you are only a few wins away from having the Chargers in the Super Bowl on your birthday at the big 50 party. I’m feeling it! Start planning it now!!

    Maybe once they will be winning at the end of the season. LT’s toe is good, Gates is good. Need a little help in the secondary on D. End of season momentum is building. A win over Denver is coming!

    doughboy | December 22nd, 2008 at 12:01 pm

  9. I think this has a lot to do with the date. San Diego roads are empty at Christmas because most people aren’t “from” here–they go home at Christmas. The tourists that replace them usually aren’t driving much. Hence: empty roads on Dec 21.

    Corey Koberg | January 8th, 2009 at 5:55 pm

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