Los Angeles is Only The Second Worst Metro Area in Terms of Traffic Congestion!

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Kirkland, Washington based traffic information company INRIX issued its 5th Annual Traffic Scorecard that analyzes and compares traffic congestion in the top 100 U.S. metropolitan markets and the country overall.

The good news was that overall traffic congestion in 2011 dropped about 30% compared to the prior year. The bad news is that this drop probably reflects the overall malaise of our economy...less employment = less commuting.

In any case, while the study did not cover Ventura County per se, it did of course include our Los Angeles neighbors. The good news there is that Los Angeles is not the outright worst place to be in terms of traffic. That illustrious honor belongs to Honolulu.

Here is INRIX's top 10 cities for traffic and related wasted time on the road in 2011:

1) Honolulu (58 hours), 2) Los Angeles (56 hours), 3) San Francisco (48 hours), 4) New York (57 hours), 5) Bridgeport, CT (42 hours), 6) Washington, D.C. (45 hours), 7) Seattle (33 hours), 8) Austin (30 hours), 9) Boston (35 hours) and 10) Chicago (36 hours)

Well, Los Angeles is not too far behind Honolulu, so let's work on the economy, get more people on the roads this year, and perhaps we can take that "top" spot in 2012!

INRIX also notes that the worst morning commute (in terms of traffic) is generally on Tuesdays (between 7:45 and 8 a.m.) and the worst weeknight commute is on Fridays (5:30-5:45 p.m.).

The study includes a list of the worst congested traffic "corridors" in the areas measured. Los Angeles has 8 of the top 25:

  • #1 Worst Corridor in America in 2011: I-405 Northbound: Imperial Highway to Getty Center Drive (13.1 miles) This moved up from 2nd worst in 2010.
  • #3 (#7 in 2010): I-10 Eastbound: Lincoln Blvd/Exit 1B to Alameda St (14.9 miles)
  • #5 (#3 in 2010): I-5 Southbound: East Ceaser Chavez Ave to Valley View Ave (17.5 miles)
  • #7 (#24 in 2010): I-405 Southbound: Nordhoff St to Mulholland Drive (8.1 miles) Ah yes, we know this corridor pretty well coming from Ventura County!
  • #12 (#28 in 2010): CA-110 Northbound: I-10 Santa Monica Frwy to Stadium Way (3.1 miles)
  • #16 (#19 in 2010): I-105 Eastbound: Nash St to I-605 (17.6 miles)
  • #18 (#10 in 2010): I-10 Eastbound: City Terrace/Herbert to Baldwin Park Blvd (12.8 miles)
  • #23 (#36 in 2010): I-10 Westbound: I-5 Golden Gate Frwy to National Blvd (12.6 miles)

Visit scorecard.inrix.com/scorecard to see the scorecard and more detailed information.

As for me, after reviewing this data, the annoyingly long wait a the Wendy Drive and 101 Freeway intersection doesn't bother quite as much. :>