Driving in Las Vegas

petunia100

What's it like driving e.g from Las Vegas to Los Angeles? Is it safe?
What are the roads like?

John259

Of all the major US cities to start driving in, Las Vegas is one of the easiest. It's a relatively small city (compared with Los Angeles, etc) so the road network is fairly straightforward.

The direct route from Las Vegas to Los Angeles is I-15. This is a high quality motorway-style road. It crosses the Mojave Desert, which some people find boring but others think the wide open empty spaces are awesome. Traffic levels compared with most other US rural highways are somewhat higher, but still very low compared to British roads. EXCEPT on Sunday evening when there's a flood of people heading back to Los Angeles after a weekend in Las Vegas.

There's an agricultural inspection station after entering California where any fruit and veg you're carrying will be confiscated. This is to prevent crop infections.

As you approach Los Angeles the freeway network becomes complicated and traffic levels build up considerably. You're likely to have either fast moving heavy traffic or a traffic jam, both of which are unpleasant. Taking the surface roads (ordinary streets, non-freeway) can be less stressful but a lot slower.

Generally driving in the USA outside of cities is far less stressful than in Britain. Drivers are more polite. There are far fewer roundabouts. In most places you can turn right on a red traffic light provided you stop first and make sure it's clear.

There are alternative routes such as via Joshua Tree National Park. However, in summer that area is exceedingly hot.

Roads and signposting are generally very good on interstates, US highways, state highways, roads in towns and in national parks and other similar areas. Avoid county roads which are sometimes unpaved and poorly signposted.

Google Maps is an excellent method of plotting routes, checking distances, searching for motels, and wandering around in StreetView mode.
Las Vegas to Los Angeles: https://goo.gl/maps/9iYGqyCzGgp

There are numerous dashcam videos on YouTube of the Los Angeles freeways. Those which are timelapsed (speeded up) make them look more frightening than they really are. There are also a few videos of I-15 between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Los Angeles freeways videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqKr0VZxEGwCrjTwVydiSqBAfpt_aRoi6

Los Angeles to Las Vegas video (realtime and therefore lengthy, so you'll probably only want to sample parts of it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uax4swBEQJE

Wikipedia has articles for most major US roads, including I-15:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_15

Here's the Joshua Tree section of the US National Park Service web site:
http://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm

Here's a fun video about Joshua Tree:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rL5yP98Ux8

C_Mababejive

#2 as above.

Driving in the USA is far far less stressful than in the UK. It gets a bit manic on the freeways around major cities but no worse than a busy UK motorway. Best advice, use a decent satnav so that you can fully attend to driving rather than navigating.

petunia100

Thanks for the brilliant and helpful replies.

StuieUK34

Done that route last year and the year before...
Nice drive, as long as your in a nice hire car !
Stop at Peggy Sues Diner for a break, entertaining!
Prefer there roads compared to ours.
Safer driving on the I-15 too, as not full of idiot BMW/Audi/Merc drivers sat in 3rd lane, staring into space whilst talking on the phone and driving under the speed limit !
They drive in any lane, works good!

John259

This is part of a Canadian truck driver's trip to Los Angeles (but driving a pickup truck, not a haulage truck), starting on I-15 southbound in Arizona (north of Las Vegas). His reaction to the scenery and the desert is amusing!
https://youtu.be/euv503Xqh74?t=383