Back in my days of commuting to and from the Westside, I thought I could outwit, out-calm or outwait the big, bad 10 Freeway. I was wrong.

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No matter how much James Taylor I played, or how many audiobooks I consumed or hours I delayed before taking the on-ramp, it seemed that I-10 remained an endless sea of red brake lights. I’d slink into my spot on the commuter conveyor belt and inch along, defeated.

Now comes affirmation from my colleagues Terry Castleman and Shelby Grad that a commute that felt like Southern California’s worst really was. The fearsome but often unavoidable 10 ranks as the worst freeway in Southern California, according to an analysis by The Times. Statistical savant Castleman and SoCal history whiz Grad came to this conclusion by measuring the region’s freeways from four perspectives — average speed, delays, lost productivity and fatal crashes — to rate freeways centered in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Out of the 25 freeways that made their final ranking, the beast sometimes known as the Santa Monica Freeway was “tops” in three painful categories: most fatal crashes, lowest average speed and most delays. A trifecta of torment!

And yet, like a friend who’s bad for us but we can’t resist, the 10 has us cornered. For an increasing number of people, it’s the only sensible route to get to burgeoning jobs centers, especially in tech, on the Westside. For others, it’s the best way to reach the beach, beckoning from the other side of Santa Monica’s McClure Tunnel.

To experience anything remotely approaching “freeway” speeds on the westbound 10 in the morning, a driver must make it beyond downtown L.A. and its daily gridlock by 6 a.m. Driving inland in the afternoon, you’d be advised to start your commute before 2 p.m, or delay your drive until after 8 p.m.

I used to follow those self-imposed guidelines for a couple of years when I drove to and from West Los Angeles, where I covered the film business for Variety. But the drive, especially coming home to South Pasadena at the end of the day, often defeated me. If I ditched the 10, heeding the siren call of Waze, it might mean veering off to eastbound Jefferson or even Exposition Boulevard. More often there’d just be another obstacle, followed by the ungodly crush of the 110 (a.k.a. Harbor, a.k.a. Pasadena) Freeway. Red lights filled my field of vision. My soul ached in a way even Sweet Baby James couldn’t make better.

The Times analysis took the measure of similar heartache on a pair of major north-south routes. The 605 from Long Beach to the San Gabriel Valley city of Duarte ranked second-worst. The 405 from the San Fernando Valley to Irvine in Orange County ranked third-worst. And no wonder for the eight- to 10-lane behemoth sometimes known as the San Diego Freeway. It’s the closest major artery along the coast and a principal route to Los Angeles International Airport. To experience clogus perpetuous (that’s, er, Latin) try crawling over the mountains to the dreaded intersection of the 405 and U.S. 101, which ranked third overall in delays.

Our freeway sleuths used data from the Caltrans Performance Maintenance System and gave similar ratings to the four speed and safety variables. The “lost productivity” measure calculates lost hours of work, based on a 60 mph speed as the best-case scenario.

The freeway causing the most lost productivity? The 210, stretching from Santa Clarita, at the foot of the Grapevine, to Redlands in San Bernardino County. That wouldn’t surprise anyone who has limped from the Inland Empire into Pasadena for work in the morning on the so-called Foothill Freeway. Or those, heading east, who didn’t leave early enough for a long weekend in Palm Springs or Las Vegas.

Our analysis starts on a hopeful note — with the best freeways. But you’ll have to pay to drive on No. 1 on the list. It’s the short Route 261, a toll road that whips drivers from the gated communities of inland Orange County, like Coto de Caza, into Irvine.

With zero fatal crashes in one year and an average speed of more than 66 miles an hour, the pristine Route 261 is a legit joy ride. And that’s saying a lot, in the land where freeways are usually anything but.

Today’s top stories Seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro, who was reported missing Thursday in Yucaipa.

Seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro, who was reported missing Thursday in Yucaipa.

(San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department)

Mystery deepens into a missing California baby after his mother stops cooperating with investigators

  • The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said the mother’s story was inconsistent and they cannot rule out foul play in the disappearance of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro.
  • Rebecca Haro said she was changing her son’s diaper on Thursday evening while standing outside her vehicle near a Big 5 store when she was attacked by an unknown man and knocked unconscious.
  • When Haro woke up, her baby was gone, according to authorities who arrived on the scene. Sheriff’s deputies and police dogs responded to the scene to search, but they could not find the boy.

UCLA’s Jewish community unites against Trump’s $1-billion demand

  • A large swath of UCLA’s Jewish faculty united to sign a letter denouncing the Trump administration’s “misguided and punitive” demand for a $1-billion fine to settle claims over alleged campus antisemitism.
  • The letter says cutting research funding does “nothing to make UCLA safer for Jews nor diminish antisemitism in the world.”
  • The letter has also had a special resonance, bonding people with a diversity of views on the war in the Gaza Strip, the nature of antisemitism and its prevalence at UCLA.

Can Cal State meet its students’ housing needs?Trump launches an assault on mail-in ballots and voting machines

  • President Trump said Monday he would renew his assault on mail-in voting after Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin, told him to do so at their meeting in Alaska last week.
  • The president provided few details but wrote on social media that he would “lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES.”

What else is going onCommentary and opinionsThis morning’s must-readsOther must-readsFor your downtime The North American Tour Company of "& Juliet."

The North American Tour Company of “& Juliet.”

(Matthew Murphy)

Going outStaying inWhat are your favorite places to eat and drink in the San Fernando Valley?

Inspired by our dining in the Valley guide, we want to know about your reliable Valley standby.
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … your photo of the day A person spins records on a record player while two other people dance in the background

(Callum Walker Hutchinson / For the Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times contributor Callum Walker Hutchinson, who captured how fashion is key to transcending time on an L.A. dance floor.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff writer
Diamy Wang, homepage intern
Izzy Nunes, audience intern
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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