Urban Mobility Report<\/a>, the average commuter in L.A. in 2024 wasted 137 hours or about three work weeks sitting in traffic and lost $3,935 in productivity and wasted gas due to congestion. Overall, L.A. ranks first among the top urban areas for total traffic delay in 2024.<\/p>\nThe report, sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation, was first published in 1987 and builds on several decades of tracking congestion trends in the U.S. It documents \u201chow roadway congestion has become a persistent challenge, especially in regions with strong economies and steady population growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just L.A. Americans lost an average of 63 hours sitting in traffic in 2024, which is the highest level measured, according to the institute. That\u2019s the equivalent of nearly eight full workdays lost to traffic and marks a 16% increase in national congestion costs over the past five years, now totaling $269 billion annually.<\/p>\n
Researchers found that delays have spread from the traditional weekday rush hours to midday, midweek and weekends.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers show more traffic than we\u2019ve ever seen, but also a different kind of traffic,\u201d said David Schrank, TTI senior research scientist and lead author of the study, in a press release. \u201cHybrid work capabilities, online shopping and other changes in our daily lives have reshaped when and where congestion happens. This can create more unpredictability and make travel harder to plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
In L.A., a trip that should take 20 minutes required consumers to plan for 56 minutes to arrive at their destination on time. The city experiences 7.5 hours of congestion each day, according to the report.<\/p>\n
Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n
Truck-based congestion costs in L.A. also increased in 2024, with the city ranking number one for total truck delay. Commercial trucks in the city lost more than $3 billion and wasted 45 million gallons of gas in 2024 because of congestion.<\/p>\n
Based on the 2025 report, researchers provided multiple recommendations, including low-cost operation improvements, capacity expansions, technology integration and developments that align with changing travel behaviors.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongestion is a fact of life in thriving regions,\u201d Schrank said. \u201cThis year\u2019s numbers challenge us to think differently about travel. Why are people on the road? Can we shift some of that demand, or give travelers more reliable options? We\u2019re getting the tools and data to answer those questions and act on them in ways we couldn\u2019t before.\u201d<\/p>\n
A recent addition for commuters in L.A. is the Metro\u2019s D-line extension, which expanded subway service west along Wilshire Blvd. in three sections to improve travel between L.A. and the Westside ahead of the World Cup this summer and Olympic Games in 2028. Metro officials say the travel time from Union Station to Beverly Hills is about 21 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Research findings show Los Angeles ranks first among the top 101 urban areas for delay per commuter in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":945725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,15979,56279,32898,219020,2961,224,5337,5248,314],"class_list":["post-945724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-commute","tag-commuting","tag-department-of-transportation","tag-freeways","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-metro","tag-traffic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116947555104639943","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}