US Postal Service: Only 3.7% of Bay Area Address Changes are Out-of-State

[edale]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Yes, that phenomenon has been referred to as "California freeway hop."

Interesting! Thank you for the explanation!

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Funny because when my sister and her husband moved to Wisconsin back when he was going to medical school, her husband talked about how he thought Wisconsin's roads were shitty. He assumed it has to do with the regular snow they get and all the scraping and salting.

I think the freeze/thaw cycle, along with the salting and plowing, definitely contributes to poor road conditions. Also just the age of construction, at least around Cincinnati, seems to be older than many of the CA freeways. Think of the part of the 110 that goes through the tunnels in Elysian Park, and that is what lots of I-75 used to look like, prior to this ongoing current makeover. Roads that were designed for much less traffic and smaller vehicles, largely without the safety features we expect today.

[rsbear]

This is not a "which state is better" opinion piece, but a fact-based comparative:

I moved to Los Angeles for work in 1999. I moved to Texas for work in 2020.

In California I paid about 10% of my income in state income taxes. Texas does not have a state income tax.

In Los Angeles we paid about $9,000 per year in property tax on our 2 bedroom condo. Our property taxes in Texas are also about $9,000 per year on our 4 bedroom house.

In Los Angeles we paid over 10% in sales tax. In my county in Texas the sales tax rate is 7.5%.

California has the highest gas tax in the country. Gas is $1.00 per gallon cheaper in Texas.

We paid over $1,500 to register our three vehicles FOR ONE YEAR (2 cars and a motorcycle) in California. The same 3 vehicles cost $177 FOR ONE YEAR in Texas.

The road conditions in Los Angeles are pretty poor. Sometimes brutal. The freeways are generally better than surface streets. The the roads (surface streets and freeways) in my community (a suburb of San Antonio) are almost perfect.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I've never been to Texas (the only state in the lower 48 larger in area than California), so I'm wondering how their roads are, and how they are maintained, if their dept. of trans. also has many districts (I think California has 12 Caltrans Districts).

Texas urban freeways look a lot like California urban freeways. The surface streets are pretty bad though, especially in Houston. But some of the suburban areas remind me of nice, wide and smooth Orange county roads.

[JManc]

Yes. Houston streets require a HUMVEE or some heavy duty armor personnel carrier to navigate.

[iheartthed]

I've driven some pretty rough freeways in Cali that reminded me of driving in Michigan... Which has pretty rough roads. Texas freeways (at least Dallas and Austin) feel brand spanking new by comparison

[JManc]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I've driven some pretty rough freeways in Cali that reminded me of driving in Michigan... Which has pretty rough roads. Texas freeways (at least Dallas and Austin) feel brand spanking new by comparison

Speaking of rough roads, there's a mile long debris trail from my old Civic somewhere on FDR drive in New York. lol

[badrunner]

I blame these assholes for the bad roads in LA:

• Video Link

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by edale

When I hear people in California complain about crappy freeways, I have to laugh. I've never seen the type of freeway infrastructure in another state like it is in CA. The crazy 5 level stacks, mountain passes, bridges...all top rate. The only complaint I have is that some freeways around LA make your car bounce? I'm not sure why that is exactly, but stretches of the 5 and 110 do this for several miles. It makes me think something is wrong with my car, but then I can see other cars also bouncing. Anyone notice that before?

Go to Ohio if you want to see some shitty freeways. Much of I-75 through Cincinnati is very narrow, sometimes without breakdown lanes, littered with potholes during the winter and spring, full of weirdly abrupt exits and on-ramps...a real relic from the 50s. Thankfully, much of it is currently being redone.

This is what a shitty freeway looks like:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2253...7i13312!8i6656

I agree with you. Our freeways are pretty decent for the most part except the concrete sections that as you said are bumpy or wavy. It could be due to the earth movements? Regardless, my biggest issue with Caltrans is the amount of trash that they let accumulate but they have been getting a lot of shit lately and are finally picking things up at pre pandemic levels again. Saw multiple crews out today in areas that i have been complaining about for years

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

I agree with you. Our freeways are pretty decent for the most part except the concrete sections that as you said are bumpy or wavy.

The 405S from something like Sunset to Santa Monica Blvd is really wavy! I never understood why they didn't resurface the 405 back when they did that massive widening project that shut it down for a weekend or two...

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by JManc

Speaking of rough roads, there's a mile long debris trail from my old Civic somewhere on FDR drive in New York. lol

I bet there's an accident every single day on the FDR caused by the uneven pavement. It would be nice if they took the pandemic as an opportunity to completely reconstruct it.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I bet there's an accident every single day on the FDR caused by the uneven pavement. It would be nice if they took the pandemic as an opportunity to completely reconstruct it.

They did that with our main drag (Westheimer) here in Houston. As soon as the apocalypse hit and everyone started WFH, the city rolled in and redid most of it.

[sopas ej]

Street conditions/maintenance varies among the individual cities within California as well, of course.

Generally, I find Long Beach's streets to be much nicer than the city of Los Angeles'. Even within the individual smaller cities/suburbs. South Pasadena's streets tend to have more potholes than say, Alhambra's.

[jd3189]

Florida has pretty nice highway infrastructure compared to where I currently live in Cali. FL honestly has the slickest highways in the country but has the most accidents overall.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by jd3189

Florida has pretty nice highway infrastructure compared to where I currently live in Cali. FL honestly has the slickest highways in the country but has the most accidents overall.

Southern FL has Turnpikes (Toll Roads) as alternatives to the freeways which gives you some nice options. If you think about our toll road down in Orange County, Route 73, that's a really nice road. I just wonder how they'll fund freeway maintenance as electric cars become more and more popular, since the gas tax is one of the primary sources of funds.

[jd3189]

^^^ Yeah, I remembered those Fast Track toll roads in Orange County to be very well kept. Orange County’s infrastructure is just maintained to a higher level compared to most of LA, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties.

[sopas ej]

Orange County heavily invests in its freeways (but not on rail); in fact, yet another widening is going on right now, to widen the 405 from Costa Mesa to the LA County line/Long Beach.

And interestingly, Orange County is its own Caltrans district, whereas other Caltrans districts are made up of 2 or more counties; District 7, for example, consists of LA and Ventura Counties.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

my biggest issue with Caltrans is the amount of trash that they let accumulate

Mine is the "construction, reduced speed" signs they leave posted and uncovered at 4 AM on Sunday mornings when there's certainly no work happening and everything looks normal.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Orange County heavily invests in its freeways (but not on rail); in fact, yet another widening is going on right now, to widen the 405 from Costa Mesa to the LA County line/Long Beach.

And interestingly, Orange County is its own Caltrans district, whereas other Caltrans districts are made up of 2 or more counties; District 7, for example, consists of LA and Ventura Counties.

Do they want some free gravel from the freeways San Francisco County has removed--the old concrete could be pulverized if OC wants to pay to have it delivered. We won't be using it. It would be hard to imagine a new freeway being built in the county now that the seismic work on the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate approaches is done.

[ChrisLA]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Yes, that phenomenon has been referred to as "California freeway hop." It has to do with the older concrete-paved freeways that California used pre-Interstate era (of which LA County has quite a few), where the seams are spaced like every 12 feet or something like that. I've noticed it ever since I was a little kid. I'm thinking that hopping effect wasn't an issue or wasn't as noticeable when cars from older eras had different kinds of suspension, plus it has to do with the length of a car's wheelbase, and the speed. I think pre-1950s, the top speed in California was only 45 mph. At least it was during WWII, to conserve fuel.

Truck drivers that drive throughout the US have blogged about California freeway hop. And pickup truck drivers with no load on the bed have talked about how it's very noticeable.

I always attributed this to us having shaky (earthquakes) grounds, and the reason I say this is I noticed right after the Northridge earthquake the 405 Freeway (which still has the older concrete payment) running through the San Fernando Valley and through west LA around Westwood. What was once smooth now all of a sudden got real bouncy after the quake in 1994.

At the time I was living in Fresno and came down to LA every other weekend. I noticed the difference immediately, and it's still like this today, especially here in the valley. I tell you there are some parts of the 405 freeway in the valley that if you aren't careful in certain parts and you're going too fast you can feel the car airborne. (lol)

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Mimol742

Do you live in Austin? I have never been but I hear the problem is just as bad as it is on the west coast.

I truly believe some cities attract homeless people (weather, political environment, etc).

Also we have free healthcare in NYC and we offer our homeless shelter in city hotels yet we still have mentally ill people and druggies roaming the streets and sleeping on sidewalks. I’m not really sure what liberal California is doing for it’s most vulnerable citizens. As the 5th largest economy in the world and with its high taxes it could do a lot more for these people.

Yeah, I do. And oh, yeah, the homeless issue is bad here. I do think people come to Texas cities mostly because the weather is warm for the most part, except for that crazy winter storm we had last month. I think there are a lot of reasons why it's worse in some cities than others. People tend to blame the local governments, but it's more than that. It's climate, it's access to resources/safety nets/support and a perception that the local population is sympathic and "kind" to the homeless. Also, it's the built form of a place - are there places for them to camp. There certainly are here with our greenbelts we have along the creeks. It's bad in other Texas cities, but I think there is a perception that more liberal places tend to be more receptive to it. I've seen homeless in many Texas cities and in the suburbs, too.

And, yeah, Austin has purchased a few "run down" hotels to be turned into public housing for the homeless. That's been met with different reactions. Mostly people who don't like the idea of those hotels being used in such a way, but honestly, it's not like those were upstanding businesses to begin with and were being rented to druggies and prostitutes anyway. And my argument to that has been you can either have them wandering the streets and starting fires in the woods to cook their food or you can house them with an address and hopefully a path to some normalcy. The state government also operates a homeless "camp" where they literally are camping in tents on state owned property. Someone actually froze to death in one of those camps last month when the temperature got down to 6F here and we had 7 inches of snow on the ground. That was extremely rare, though. It was the most snow Austin had seen since 1949. It was pretty incredible.