The second-most congested roadway in the nation is in Long Beach and northern Orange County, the notorious stretch of the 405 Freeway between the 22 and 605 freeways, according to a federal study released Monday.
The study measured traffic by hours of delay, finding that six of the “top 10” most congested roads were located 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 405 Freeway between state Route 22 and the 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 of more than 4 miles long.
The Orange County Transportation Authority has been pushing a plan for years to construct one additional general purpose lane and one toll lane on a 14-mile stretch of the 405 between Costa Mesa and Seal Beach.
The $1.3 billion addition of a general purpose lane would be paid for by Measure M, Orange County’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements. The planned high-occupancy toll lane, which would add another $400 million to the project, will be funded through bonds that will be paid back by those who choose to use the toll lanes, state funding and potentially through a federal loan.
On Nov. 9, the OCTA board short-listed four firms interested in designing and building the project, according to spokesman Joel Zlotnik. Construction is expected to begin in 2017 with a completion date of 2022.
However, Long Beach sued OCTA this year over the widening plan, saying the Orange County agency should pay the city more for improvements that will be needed to local streets to accommodate the traffic. Zlotnik said the lawsuit is not slowing down OCTA’s efforts.
In addition to ranking the nation’s 50 worst traffic bottlenecks, the study released Monday, “Unclogging Americas Arteries 2015,” examined the top 30 chokepoints closely and detailed many of the major societal benefits that would result from fixing them. The nation could save an estimated $39 billion over 20 years if the congestion was solved.
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 Gov. 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.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been edited to clarify funding sources for the 405 expansion in Orange County.
