Trucking is the principal mode of freight and cargo transportation in California. An essential mode for regional, intrastate and long-distance commerce, 18-wheelers haul everything from machinery and industrial supplies and manufactured goods, to extracted resources and food products. On any given day, tractor trailers and large commercial trucks move more than 5 million tons of freight through California, with San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles Counties seeing the heaviest amount of traffic.
Given the amount of freight transport, it comes as no surprise that California’s highways have some of the highest concentrations of truck crashes per mile traveled.
Truck Accident Hotspots in Southern California
The Southern California Association of Governments has been researching truck accidents in the state, identifying “hotspots” with the worst rates of truck accidents. According to their data, the 710 Freeway at the 60 in the East L.A. Interchange rates among the most dangerous for crashes involving tractor trailers. With more than 42,000 daily truck trips, the 701 Freeway is among the busiest, followed by the 60, which handles some 27,000 rigs every day.
Transportation officials recognize that driver error is the leading cause of commercial truck accidents, but are quick to point out that heavy congestion also plays a role. On some of California’s busiest trucking highways, the constant interface between passenger vehicles and 18-wheelers, combined with merging lanes, is another contributing factor.
Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute recently ranked the country’s most congested highway corridors, analyzing urban freeway truck delays at different times throughout the day. According to their report, California is home to many of the nation’s worst corridors for truck congestion.
California’s Most Congested Trucking Routes
Although several routes in Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh and Austin ranked high for tractor trailer congestion, the analysis showed that L.A.’s Harbor Freeway between I-10 and Stadium Way had the highest rate of truck delay per mile.
Some of California’s busiest trucking routes include:
- Interstate 405 – also known as the San Diego Freeway, is one of the busiest in the country
- 1-10 – running from Santa Monica through downtown Los Angeles to the AZ border
- Interstate 5 – spanning from Mexico to the border of Oregon
- Interstate 15 – covers more than 1,450 miles from San Diego to the Canadian border.
The top corridors for truck congestion in California are:
- LA Harbor Freeway/CA-110 from I-10/Santa Monica Fwy to Stadium Way/Exit 24C
- LA Harbor Freeway/I-110 from 111th Pl. to I-110/I-10/Santa Monica Fwy
- LA San Gabriel River Freeway/I-605 from Beverly Blvd to Florence Avenue
- LA San Diego Freeway/I-405 from I-105/Imperial Hwy to Getty Center Dr.
If you or someone you love were injured in a truck accident in southern California, legal compensation may be available. Crashes involving commercial vehicles are best handled by a skilled Los Angeles truck accident lawyer who has an established record of successfully navigating complex injury cases against trucking companies, drivers and other liable entities.
Call the Salamati Law Firm in Los Angeles to explore your options for legal recourse. Our attorneys have the investigative skills and resources to prove negligence and secure money damages for your losses.
Additional Resources on CA Truck Routes:
- CAHighways.org, Busiest California Highways, based on Average Daily Traffic http://www.cahighways.org/stats3.html#Busiest
- CA.gov, California Truck Network Map http://www.dot.ca.gov/trafficops/trucks/truck-network-map.html
- LA Times, 4 stretches of freeways tally most big rig crashes per mile annually http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-california-commute-20150602-story.html
- FleetOwner.com, Ranking the nation’s most congested highway corridors http://www.fleetowner.com/management/news/ranking-most-congested-highway-corridors-1121
