World Series brings brief ‘Carmageddon’ traffic for Dodger fans

It’s 3 p.m and Jack Flaherty is set to take the mound in two hours.

Outside Dodger Stadium, the streets of Elysian Park are at a standstill.

A stretch of Stadium Way has slowed to a crawl. Parts of the 5 and 110 Freeways aren’t much better. There’s desperation in the air, as Dodgers fans blare car horns in futile attempts to get traffic moving.

“An $800 ticket is only worth it if you’re able to actually make it to the game,” said Miguel Hernández through the rolled-down window of a black Suburban. “We haven’t moved in five minutes.”

Friday marked the start of the 120th World Series, and combined with a handful of other big events throughout the city, some were labeling the evening a “traffic nightmare.”

Around downtown, in addition to the Dodgers game, the Lakers played the Suns at Crypto.com Area, and USC played Rutgers at L.A. Memorial Coliseum. In Inglewood, the East L.A. Classic high school football game kicked off at SoFi Stadium while the Kia Forum and newly opened Intuit Dome hosted concerts.

“It’s like trafficopolypse or something … car mania,” said one Dodger fan sporting a dyed-blue goatee. He cycled through a handful of puns before landing on “carmageddon,” a term popularized after the 405 was closed for construction in 2011.

Among the masses was Alex Rodriguez, who’s serving as a studio analyst for the Series. A TikTok showed the Yankees legend running up the hill toward the stadium before the game.

Dodger Stadium charged $50 for parking in the earlier rounds of the playoffs but upped the cost to $75 for the World Series. The price may have swayed some to find other solutions.

After laying on the horn for five straight seconds — a cry of frustration more than any conceivable call to action — the driver of a red pickup truck pulled a U-turn and retreated to the residential streets of Echo Park.

The parking app ParkWhiz offered alternative spots in the days leading up to the game, including a handful of $80 spots located about a 30-minute walk from the stadium. Those sold out by Friday, but available options at game time included a $5 spot in Chinatown and a $31 spot at the Broad Museum Garage downtown.

At a Thursday news conference, Mayor Karen Bass said that L.A. is ready — “ready to host the World Series, ready to welcome visitors from near and far, and we are ready to win.”

To ease traffic, the L.A. Department of Transportation deployed 100 officers at various intersections, and L.A. Metro also sent out many of its 300 traffic ambassadors to assist eventgoers.

In addition, Metro increased the number of Dodger Stadium Express buses, which was renamed to Line 34 in honor of Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela, who died Tuesday at 63. Twenty buses ran from Union Station, and eight buses ran from the South Bay, starting service three hours before game time.

Last week, Metro offered an alternative route for leaving the game, suggesting that fans could walk a little over a mile toward the A Line’s Chinatown Station. The post was criticized, with people calling it a hazardous, potentially dangerous walk.

Nevertheless, some fans tried the strategy on the way to the game.

“It’s a hike, but it’s better than being stuck in a car during the 1st inning,” said Justin Chang, who won a pair of tickets from his workplace. “I’ll spend the money I saved on beers and Dodger Dogs.”

Chang spent about 25 minutes on the Metro, and the walk up to the stadium took another 30 minutes, making it a roughly one-hour journey from his place in Highland Park.

Fans and cars climb the hill on Vin Scully Avenue toward Dodger Stadium ahead of Game 1 of the World Series.

(Nick Agro / For The Times)

Others parked in the surrounding neighborhoods and walked the rest of the way, with plenty of time to spare to watch warm-ups before the first pitch.

“I know a spot in Echo Park that’s 20 minutes from the stadium, but I’m not telling where it is,” said Emily Pratt. “A good parking spot is priceless.”

There was a sense of pride among those walking the steep streets up to the stadium, passing lines of cars along the way. At one point, a chant of “Gondola” broke out, as fans referenced the proposed project that would add a 1.2-mile aerial line over Chinatown as a new way to get to the game.

An hour before the game started, there were 1,616 traffic jams around L.A, with much of the congestion swelling around Dodger Stadium and Downtown L.A., according to location technology company TomTom.

The majority of fans, however, seemed to heed warnings about the nightmare traffic; most of the congestion eased within an hour of the game. By 5 p.m., the streets surrounding the stadium had cleared out, and fans were in their seats.

“I paid a lot for these tickets,” said Ricky Garcia, ushering his family through the line an hour before the start of the game. “I wasn’t going to miss a second.”

Getting out of the stadium after the game — all at once — would be a different kind of nightmare.