LA's 101 Freeway Is America's 'Highway from Hell'

This might not even register as news for many, but now it’s official: The 101 freeway is America’s "Highway from Hell."

A new report by Auto Insurance Center (via the Daily News) analyzed commutes in 471 urban areas to find the 10 worst commutes in the U.S. and put the 101 in the top slot.

It singles out both morning and evening commutes on Wednesdays as the two worst times to commute on the stretch of the 101 from Southwest San Fernando Valley into Downtown. On a Wednesday morning, traveling between Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills and Vignes Street in Downtown takes an average of 91 minutes, with an infuriating average speed of just 17 mph.

Evenings aren’t much better. The report found that driving between the 405/101 intersection in the Valley to Soto Street Downtown on Wednesday evenings takes about 70 minutes, with an average speed of 19 mph.

The 101 isn’t LA’s only traffic woe. Los Angeles dominates the realm of terrible commutes, claiming six of the 10 entries on the report's list. Wednesday evenings on the 10, between Downtown and Santa Monica, clocked in as the third worst commute, with average speeds crawling up to just 12 mph for the duration. Also making the list was the I-5 east out of Downtown and another mention of I-10, this time for commutes into Culver City.

Slow commutes not only translate into frustrated drivers, they are also costly at the gas pump as well. The study found the average Angeleno wastes $1,711 in fuel and time costs while stuck in traffic. During peak congestion on the 101, driving 26 miles of bumper to bumper traffic is the equivalent of driving 84.1 miles at 55 mph.

Need more depressing figures to chew on? The insurance center calculates that in the span of 40 years, LA drivers spend an estimated 6.7 months of their lives stuck in traffic.

So, how are we coming along on those self-driving cars?

• LA’s 101 Freeway the nation’s worst ‘highway from hell,’ study says [Daily News]
• JAMMED: How Much Time & Money Does Traffic Congestion Waste? [Auto Insurance Center]