Vivian Lay

Vivian Leigh works with me at 99% Invisible, and she's on her way out for after-work drinks at one of her favorite bars in L.A.

Some people enjoy driving.

Some people, like Vivian, really do not.

But nobody enjoys being stuck in traffic.

No one's moving.

What are they doing?

Oh, my God.

L.A.

is famously a car town, known for its endless freeways and its soul-crushing rush hour traffic.

And in a city full of bad intersections, Vivian and Cody are headed towards one that many consider to be the worst.

It's where three roads, Fairfax, Olympic, and San Vicente, all intersect.

To navigate this intersection, Vivian and Cody have to make it through two traffic lights in quick succession, only a couple hundred feet apart.

We are stuck in the middle.

They make it through one traffic light, but then get stopped at the next one.

And now they're stuck right in the middle of the triangle.

I'm Delaney Hall, and this is Service Request from 99% Invisible and Campside Media.

We rarely think about infrastructure until it breaks, and then suddenly it is all we can think about.

So every week, we're diving into your burning questions about the invisible systems all around us.

We're exploring how infrastructure works and how it's designed and maintained.

Today, traffic lights in LA.