Thoroughfares
Major east/west thoroughfares in Santa Monica are San Vicente Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, Olympic Boulevard, Pico Boulevard, and Ocean Park Boulevard. All of these streets are four lanes in width; however, about half of Ocean Park was recently reduced to two lanes in order to accommodate left-turn lanes. Wilshire Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd contain the most traffic. It is fairly easy to travel east/west in Santa Monica.
Traveling north/south in Santa Monica is considerably slower and more difficult. Most north/south streets in Santa Monica end relatively quickly or fail to yield traffic lights at intersections, making travel difficult during rush hour. The major streets are Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard which goes to Los Angeles International Airport. These two streets are mostly four lanes and considered major thoroughfares. In particular, Lincoln Blvd becomes congested since it is a main route that leads to the Santa Monica Freeway, Venice, Marina del Rey, and the Los Angeles International Airport. A number of smaller residential streets allow north/south travel through Santa Monica. These streets are: 7th Street from Olympic Blvd to the Pacific Coast Highway, 11th Street from San Vicente Blvd to Dewey Street on the border of Venice, 14th Street and 20th Street from San Vicente Blvd to Ocean Park Blvd, and 26th Street from San Vicente Blvd to Olympic Blvd, where most traffic diverts to Cloverfield Blvd. 17th Street runs from San Vicente Blvd to the entrance of Santa Monica College on Pico Blvd. All of these streets are only two lanes (with the exception of a brief portion of 20th Street). However, all of these streets encounter traffic lights at all intersections, making travel plausible. One alternate route to reach the Santa Monica Freeway going eastbound is to take Cloverfield Blvd, a short four lane street that begins off Santa Monica Boulevard.
"Envisioning Lincoln" - a short (8.5 minute) documentary on Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica can be found on YouTube.
Read more about this topic: Santa Monica Neighborhoods