Best Way back to i-10?

[Need-a-vacation]

We'll be driving back to AZ from Long Beach on a Sunday after our 3-day on Imagination. When I google the directions, it suggests the following

710 to CA-91

CA-91 to CA-60

CA-60 to I-10

 

Is this really the best way? It seems awkward. Is there any reason to not just take 710 directly to I-10? Or if we do take CA-91, is there a benefit to getting off on CA-60 instead of taking CA-91 straight to I-10?

[Bruin Steve]

We'll be driving back to AZ from Long Beach on a Sunday after our 3-day on Imagination. When I google the directions, it suggests the following

710 to CA-91

CA-91 to CA-60

CA-60 to I-10

 

Is this really the best way? It seems awkward. Is there any reason to not just take 710 directly to I-10? Or if we do take CA-91, is there a benefit to getting off on CA-60 instead of taking CA-91 straight to I-10?

 

That would be how I would likely go...

 

Heading all the way up the 710 to the 10 actually takes you out of the way...and also heads you up towards Downtown LA/East LA (basically, you'd skirt the east side of downtown)...

You'll hit the 91 a lot sooner...and the 91 is a newer, wider freeway which will take you across northern Orange County and into Riverside...

In Riverside, switching to the 60 is actually another shortcut, going all the way up to the 10 just takes you way out of the way north just to angle back down south to meet the 60...

The 60 and the 10 then just merge together in Beaumont for the rest of the ride East...

The 91/60 is actually the shorter, straighter route--and a better road...

 

Just look at a big map for the big picture...

[Need-a-vacation]

Thanks for the feedback. Now that I look at it, I think the 60 to 91 might have been how we went to disneyland a couple years ago.

 

The important thing is finding the in-n-out along i-10 again. :)

[xbatt8]

Just my 2 cents, but I would stick with the 710 to the 10.

 

I don't live in the LA area like Bruin Steve, but in the 50+ times I have driven on and around the 91, I have never seen (or been on) it when it wasn't a parking lot.

 

Even going north on 15, which I do quite a bit, the right 2 lanes are stopped 4-6 miles before the 91 because it is a parking lot and so is the transition from the 15 to the 91.

 

Alternately, I have been on the 10 MANY times, and while it can slow down from time to time, it has never been as bad as the times on the 91. It also has a carpool lane almost all of the way to the 15 and beyond.

 

Again, I'm not nearly as experienced as Steve on the issue, but after 5 or 6 frustrating trips on the 91, I have sworn never to drive on it again.

 

What I would suggest, if you have a smartphone, is to check your mapping app to see if it does traffic (red, yellow, or green lines on the map). This is a good way to decide your route when the time comes. If one fwy is red lined, then go one of the alternate routes.

 

Bob

[xbatt8]

The important thing is finding the in-n-out along i-10 again. :)

 

Depends on which route you take and how long you want to drive before eating... :)

 

There are In-N-Outs right on the 10 in Covina, Redlands, Banning, and Rancho Mirage. Probably more east of those, but that's as far as I got. :D

 

Bob

[SadieN]

The 60 and the 10 are both East/West flowing freeways, they do connect in Riverside County. Check a map of the LA freeway system.;) The 91 is notorious for backing up at interchanges.

 

Listen to 1070am. It will give you traffic updates on the 5's- 0:05, 0:15, etc.

 

If the 91 is blocked (shouldn't be that early on a Sunday but we are talking about SoCal traffic) an alternate could be 710N-105E-605N-60E or 10E.

 

At worst you could take the 710N-10E or the 710N-405N-10E (definitely not recommended.)

 

****

Parking in Long Beach---

 

Parking is $17/day + any hourly rate over a 24hour period. After you pay at the structure keep your receipt out. You will need to show it when leaving the port area, stay to the right.

If you park outside the structure stick to the left where there will be one booth for payment.

 

There have been reports of only one gate agent to get out of the parking structure.

[Need-a-vacation]

How long we want to wait will probably really depend on what time we get out of the port!! But it's probably very likely we'll end up at the one way out east near palm springs.

 

Hopefully the traffic won't be particularly bad anywhere on a Sunday morning.

[YubaSutter]

We'll be driving back to AZ from Long Beach on a Sunday after our 3-day on Imagination. When I google the directions, it suggests the following

710 to CA-91

CA-91 to CA-60

CA-60 to I-10

 

Is this really the best way? It seems awkward. Is there any reason to not just take 710 directly to I-10? Or if we do take CA-91, is there a benefit to getting off on CA-60 instead of taking CA-91 straight to I-10?

 

The 91 doesn't cross the 10. 91 turns into the 215 after you cross the 60. The 215 is the highway that you can catch the 10, not the 91.

[swedish weave]

I would use mapquest and/or a GPS. That makes it simple.

[Need-a-vacation]

I would use mapquest and/or a GPS. That makes it simple.

 

I am definitely using those tools, but real world experience is very helpful, particularly when there are so many options. Sometimes, mapquest or Google maps is stupid and the shortest route isn't always the best. When we drove home from Escondido a couple years ago, Google sent us to I-10 off on a bunch of 2 lane rural roads that were slow and we were just lucky that we never got stuck behind a slow truck. It might have been a few miles shorter, but it would have probably been easier and faster to stay on freeways.

[SadieN]

The 91 doesn't cross the 10. 91 turns into the 215 after you cross the 60. The 215 is the highway that you can catch the 10, not the 91.

 

Yuba-- The directions are accurate, s/he's looking at taking the 60E.

710N-91E-60E-10E

[Bruin Steve]

First of all, Bob, traffic on the 91 depends on day of week and time...On a Sunday morning, it won't have the same issues it has on a weekday during rush hour...The problem during weekday rush hour (in that direction, it's afternoon rush hour) is that they built a whole lot of working class homes in Riverside, Moreno Valley et al and sold them to poor working stiffs with jobs in Orange County...and, like most of SoCal, going from a coastal region to an inland valley requires heading across mountains somewhere...with limited through roads...The 91 is one of those from the Yorba Linda/Anaheim Hills area in to Corona...Weekday afternoons can be a nightmare...

 

Of course, those same weekday afternoons can be a nightmare trying to go up the 710 and connecting to the 10 in East LA...Driving in a lot of SoCal can be a nightmare during afternoon rush hour...

 

Even if someone wanted to avoid the 91, heading all the way up to the 10 is NOT the way to do it...It even makes far more sense to pick up the 60 south of East LA and take that all the way through to Beaumont...The 10 is the older freeway that loops a little far to the north while the 60 goes straight across...

 

But, on a Sunday morning, I'd just take the shortest route--which is the 710 to the 91 to the 60...

 

Lots of In 'n' Outs on the route:

 

Along the 91:

450 Auto Center Dr.

Corona, CA 92882

(Off 91 at Serfas Club/Auto Center exit)

 

7467 Indiana Ave.

Riverside, CA 92504

(91, Madison exit)

 

23035 Hemlock

Moreno Valley, CA 92557

(60, Pigeon Pass exit)

 

49188 Seminole Dr.

Cabazon, CA 92230

(10, after it merges with the 60, Apache Trail exit, right by the Morongo Casino--just before you get to Palm Springs)

 

72265 Varner Rd.

Thousand Palms, CA 92276

(Off the 10, Bob Hope/East Ramon Exit, Rancho Mirage area, just past Palm Springs)

 

Those are the ones directly on the route...there are more if you venture off the route...

 

I think the next one you hit after Rancho Mirage is in the Phoenix area...

Edited May 28, 2014 by Bruin Steve

[Need-a-vacation]

Wow Steve! Thanks for all the great info! We should be able to find one wherever we are at lunchtime!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[kenish]

I'm an Orange County freeway warrior. Do you have a smartphone? I highly advise loading the Google Maps app, and enable the "Traffic" option. It provides a color-coded (green/yellow/red) congestion map. It's delayed about 5-10 minutes, which won't help if a problem just happened but allows preplanning the route and detouring "in-flight" if necessary. I always check for trouble before commuting to and from work, and replan my commute sometimes.

 

Your route should be "green" on a Sunday but there's always the chance of a major accident or a planned construction closure. A few weekends ago the 91 freeway was closed all day in Riverside when a bridge being removed collapsed onto the freeway. You never know, even on a weekend!

 

A big concern is the 60 from Moreno Valley until it merges with I-10. The road is 2 lanes in either direction, narrow and winding, with semi trucks. There are no places to exit the freeway...before the Google traffic days, I have spent 1-2 hours to go the 10 miles after a major accident. It's not common, but it happens. If you have advance warning, just stay on 91 to I-10. It's farther as other said, but only by 4 miles total, with 4+ lanes.

Edited May 28, 2014 by kenish

[BuddyBee]

I ABSOLUTELY agree with KENISH regarding the 60. I have driven the route quite a few times from Long Beach to Phoenix and I absolutely hate that stretch of 60 through the hills. Semi-trucks, speeding cars, people going 10 miles an hour, vehicles that can't make it up the hills, and once you're on it, you are ON it - no way to exit. It only takes about 15 minutes longer to go all the way to the 10 and it is much less nerve wracking.