Dennis RomeroOf course America's worst freeway commute is in Los Angeles. A new Auto Insurance Center analysis of data — from the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard, the INRIX 2015 Traffic Scorecard and the U.S. Energy Information Association — looked at the stats for 471 U.S. cities and named the winners when it comes to the nation's “Most Packed Roadways.”
Surprisingly, the national champ wasn't one of the perennial champions: the 405 in West L.A. or the 10 from downtown to Santa Monica. It was the 101 from Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills to Vignes Street downtown.
“L.A. has six out of 10 of the most packed roadways in the country,” a summary of the findings states. Those include that stretch of the 10, which came in third place for delays. And it includes the 101 from Soto Street in Boyle Heights to Haskell Avenue in Sherman Oaks, which came in second place.
You can see all the worst commutes here.
However, when the center looked at American cities with the longest overall traffic delays, Los Angeles came in second place (!). Yep, our 80 annual hours of delays for the average driver weren't enough to take the top spot, which was reserved for Washington, D.C.
The nation's capital had 82 hours of delays for the typical commuter, the analysis found.
San Francisco (78 hours) was third, New York (74) was fourth, and San Jose (67) was fifth. Riverside and San Bernardino were taken as one metro area: They came in 10th (with 59 hours of delay).
The best city in America for commuters, at least as far as saving time on the road goes, is Turlock, California, a Central Valley farm town where the tractors and livestock don't seem to get in your way. The average driver there sees only about one hour's worth of delays a year, the Auto Insurance Center found.
Meanwhile, the analysis says the average Angeleno commuter will lose 6.7 months to delays during her 40-year career.
Retiring to Turlock doesn't sound so bad.
The 101 is an American champion.; Credit: Auto Insurance Center
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