A study released today identifying the country’s 50 worst traffic bottlenecks — as measured by hours of delay — found that six of the “top 10” are in the Los Angeles area.
“This report furthers the unassailable truth that America is stuck in traffic,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. “The good news is that this problem is solvable, and Congress can be part of the solution.
“As a long-term surface transportation bill moves through conference, I urge our elected leaders to provide the funding growth and policies that are necessary to improve commutes, to raise the bar for safety, and to keep the country moving in the 21st century,” Foxx said.
Chicago had the country’s worst bottleneck. But the Los Angeles region had far more bottlenecks than any other metropolitan area, claiming the second through seventh worst spots, as well as the 11th, 13th, 14th, 29th, 30th and 40th.
L.A.’s worst bottleneck was along a stretch of the San Diego (405) Freeway between state Route 22 and the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway, where the annual cost of delay exceeded $190 million, wasting 1.8 million gallons of gas and resulting in 36.7 million pounds of CO2, with daily backups over four miles long.
Besides identifying and ranking the nations 50 worst traffic bottlenecks, the study, “Unclogging Americas Arteries 2015,” examined the top 30 chokepoints closely and detailed many of the major societal benefits that would result from fixing them.
Bottlenecks were ranked based on backups in both directions over the entire day, not just one direction during rush hours.
The study relied on the same data utilized by the Federal Highway Administration to pinpoint the major chokepoints where motorists and freight operators desperately need relief, and is a follow-up to a report that was issued more than a decade ago.
The study was released by the American Highway Users Alliance whose chairman, former Kansas Governor Bill Graves, is also president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations.
“These bottlenecks cost our economy billions with the delays they cause moving our nation’s freight. They are truckers’ worst nightmares come true, but one that tens of thousands of our nation’s freight haulers have to deal with daily,” he said.
