I-405 In LA Named Busiest Interstate In Any U.S. City
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Federal transportation officials confirmed Tuesday what drivers in Southern California have known for a long time: the 405 Freeway is the busiest in the nation.
KNX 1070's Pete Demetriou says a new report shows people drove more than 84.7 billion miles overall on California highways in 2011 — more than 900 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.
I-405 In LA Named Busiest Interstate In Any US City
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), traffic data from 2011 showed the 405 Freeway — from Interstate 5 down to Long Beach — serves an estimated 379,000 vehicles per day, making it the busiest interstate in America.
The I-5 in California, meanwhile, was the nation's busiest interstate overall, with 21.4 billion miles traveled that year. Interstate 10 and Interstate 110 followed as the second and third busiest, respectively.
Eighty-five billion miles were logged on freeways in the Golden State in 2011. Texas came in second, with people driving more than 55.7 billion miles on its interstates, followed by Florida at 34.7 billion miles and Ohio at 31.4 billion miles.
But despite California's leading traffic numbers, the state only receives about 10 percent of federal transportation funds for road repairs — a fact that left drivers like Debbie, who drives Interstate 5 daily, balking at the prospect of paying higher gas taxes.
"I don't know, we're one of the highest states paying taxes," she said. "They need to reallocate it, use one of their words."
Click here to see a complete list of the data from the FHWA's U.S. Interstate Traffic Brief.
