The 1.5-mile confluence of the 57 and 60 freeways in Diamond Bar has displaced the closer 710/105 freeway interchange as the worst freight bottleneck on the West Coast, according to a study released this week by a trucking industry group.
The Virginia-based American Transportation Research Institute listed the 57-60 stretch as No. 1 for freight delays and truck accidents in California and eighth worst in the United States. The 57/60 meld bumped the previous worst — the 710/105 exchange in Los Angeles — to No. 17 overall, second worst on the West Coast.
No. 1 on the nationwide list is I-95/SR 4, where the George Washington Bridge connects New York with New Jersey.
The average speed through the 710/105 transition is 45 mph, while it drops to 36 mph in peak hours, according to the study.
Even as the nearby junction loses its top spot on the dubious list, it is still traffic from the Long Beach ports area contributing to the traffic snarls eastward.
The 2-mile stretch of the 57/60, including approaches, carries 356,000 vehicles a day — not much less than the 405 from L.A. to Long Beach at 374,000 vehicles a day, according to the Federal Highway Administration in a July 2010 report.
Of those, 26,000 are trucks carrying goods to warehouses, a figure that is expected to grow to 44,000 trucks by 2035. About 43 percent of all the goods in the United States go through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and about 10 to 12 percent of the trucks from the ports go through the interchange.
Proponents of the $256-million 57/60 freeway fix hope the ATRI study will shake lose more federal funding from the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Congress. So far, the cities of Industry and Diamond Bar have secured about $56 million for a realignment that would include separate freeway exits for Grand Avenue and bypasses for the 60 Freeway, so drivers don’t have to cross several traffic lanes to get to where they want to go.
“This (60 Freeway) is the preferred route for truckers because you don’t have the hills, and you can link up with I-15 or stay on until it becomes the 10 in Beaumont,” said Industry City Councilman Tim Spohn. They (truckers) would rather avoid the 10 Freeway in eastern Los Angeles County and Kellogg Hill, a grade that can slow them down or result in accidents.
