Newport Boulevard Hast Two Of CA's Worst Intersections: Report

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — There may be only 24 hours in a day, but Californians still managed to spend a combined 2.7 million hours waiting at traffic signals daily, according to a detailed new study shedding light on those maddening red lights.

It’s a shocking statistic to anyone who never ran late to a crosstown appointment.

Though it's small consolation, drivers around Newport Beach have earned the right to complain loudest. Four of the slowest intersections in the state are in Orange County. According to researchers, traffic signals will really slow drivers down on Newport Boulevard at 17th and 19th streets. Beach Boulevard, Edinger Avenue and Imperial Highway also have some of the most time-consuming intersections.

INRIX, a Washington state-based company that studies traffic and transit patterns, compiled the U.S. Signals Scorecard using GPS data from cars and phones. Billed as the first nationwide analysis of individual traffic lights and intersections, the scorecard looked at 210,000 intersections nationwide in October noting how many cars passed through or idled while waiting for the light to change.

The average signal nationwide had roughly 17,400 estimated vehicle crossings per day, the study found. On average, 62.8 percent of vehicles breezed through on a green. Drivers who stopped at a red light spent an average of 45 seconds waiting for the light to change.

No one spent more time overall waiting for the light to change than Californians, the researchers found. Los Angeles commuters spent considerably more time at lights than drivers in any city nationwide. But that may be because California — and Los Angeles especially — tended to have more drivers, according to the study. The state ranked in the middle of the pack in terms of drivers’ likelihood of catching a green light (61.2 percent). But California drivers spent more time on average waiting for red lights to change than did drivers in most other states.

The absolute worst time and day of the week to be in a hurry was between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Friday, researchers found. That was when traffic signals caused the most delays in California.
The average trip in California took about 16 1/2minutes, and almost 10 percent of that time was spent waiting at signals. That was the 10th-worst wait time among all 50 states, according to INRIX.

The worst county in California to drive through? That would be Orange County, which landed on two of the report’s top 10 worst lists nationwide. Only two counties in the nation made drivers stop more often than they did in Orange County. Orange County’s signals each caused an average of 122.3 hours of delay each day, the sixth-highest total nationwide and the worst in the state.
Though the 10 single worst intersections in the state were in Southern California, drivers in the north didn’t have it easy either. You may not have to stop at as many lights in Santa Clara County, but when you do, you’ll have to wait the longest.

Here at the 10 worst intersections in the state, according to INRIX.

1. Newhall Ranch Road and Bouquet Canyon Road, Los Angeles County: 1,260 daily hours lost.
2. Newport Boulevard and West 19th Street, Orange County: 1,042 daily hours lost.
3. Winchester Road and Ynez Road, Riverside County, 1,081 daily hours lost.
4. Edinger Avenue and Beach Boulevard, Orange County: 1,011 daily hours lost.
5. Valencia Boulevard and Bouquet Canyon Road, Los Angeles County: 1,006 daily hours lost.
6. Newport Boulevard and East 17th Street, Orange County: 993 daily hours lost.
7. Firestone Boulevard and Garfield Avenue, Los Angeles County: 993 daily hours lost.
8. San Luis Rey Mission Expressway and College Boulevard, San Diego County: 969 daily hours lost.
9. Crenshaw Boulevard and West Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles County: 967 daily hours lost.
10. West Imperial Highway and South Beach Boulevard, Orange County: 948 daily hours lost.

INRIX also created an interactive map that lets you see how well intersections in your area fared.