Headed north on Interstate 15 in or through La Jolla early on Friday? Maybe for lunch?
Maybe don't. May be a good day to WFH.
Caltrans sent out a revised news release relatively late on Thursday afternoon, warning drivers that maintenance crews would be shutting down the northbound I-5 ramp to La Jolla Parkway starting at 9 a.m. on Friday, expecting it to reopen by 2 p.m.
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The reason? Bridge work, officials said, warning that the schedule is subject to change "due to weather, traffic incidents or other maintenance considerations." A look at NBC 7's forecast for that time period shows that San Diegans can expect sunny skies at that point.
Drivers who have traveled on that off-ramp know it as a very long, very fast route to La Jolla Shores and points nearby like La Jolla Cove. They also know that a lotta, lotta vehicles ride that road.
So what's the plan if you gotta get to, for example, La Jolla Shores? Well, you could get off at the previous exit, which is, — what? Three miles earlier? — at Garnet Ave/Grand Ave in PB and drive ALL the way through PB and La Jolla Cove. Alternatively, a driver could get off a mile up the road at Gilman Drive and go all the way up to UC San Diego at La Jolla Village Drive, then bang a left and point their way down the hill back in the other direction.
So, will traffic back up on those alternate routes? Maybe yes, or maybe … yes. JK. Hey, we don't have a traffic crystal ball, but why wouldn't it? Seems like there's a backup many a morning at 9 through that stretch of the jewel, but it could be that San Diego gets lucky and all those flex workers flex on Friday and stay home, lightening the traffic load for, say, folks going to UC San Diego or the hospitals and health care centers nearby.
For those of you who don't have Google Maps or Waze or some alternative, Caltrans says to head here for real-time traffic information.
