LA Roads Among The Worst In The Nation, Report Finds
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A new report has confirmed what most Southland drivers already assumed: the region has among the worst roads in the United States.
The report, released Wednesday by the nonprofit transportation group TRIP, examined road conditions in the nation's largest urban areas, defined as having populations above 500,000.
According to TRIP, 57 percent of all major roads in the combined Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area were in poor condition, which ranked third in the nation behind only San Jose (64 percent) and San Francisco (71 percent).
Furthermore, drivers in the L.A.-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area spend an average of $921 extra per year on repairs, maintenance and fuel consumption due to the bad road conditions. That ranked fourth in the country behind only San Francisco ($1,049), San Jose ($983) and Milwaukee ($944).
Nationally, 33 percent of major urban roads were in poor condition, TRIP found, while the average driver spent an extra $599 due to bad roads.
The report was similar to one released by TRIP in August, which found that Los Angeles metro area drivers spend almost $3,000 a year in extra costs such as repairs, wasted fuel and congestion. That same report found that the average driver in L.A. loses 82 hours each year because of traffic congestion, which amounts to about $1,774 in lost time and wasted fuel.
The TRIP report also examined mid-sized urban areas, defined as having populations between 200,000 and 500,000. Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita, Oxnard and Victorville featured as well among the top 20 worst cities in the U.S. for their bad road conditions.
This comes after the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to reverse a bureaucratic blunder which has left hundreds of streets unpaved, but still in use, for up to the past 80 years.
California voters will decide next month whether to pass Proposition 6, which would repeal a gas tax hike which was approved by the state legislature last year. The hike is slated to raise over $50 billion over the next decade for road and bridge repairs.
Meanwhile, in 2017, the city of L.A. paid out more than $19 million in lawsuits to settle cases involving cyclists injured or killed on city streets. That prompted the city council in February to create a plan to regularly inspect all bike paths and lanes and devise ways to pay for any needed repairs.
To report a pothole to the city, visit the MyLA 311 Service Request page or use the MyLA311 mobile phone app.
To read the full report, click here.