Californians languish in worst traffic

Californians idle in the nation’s worst traffic jams on interstates surrounding major metropolitan areas but they are far from alone — 52 percent of these urban stretches of highways are congested, according to a new study released on Thursday.

Drivers in four lucky states enjoyed zero congestion: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. But one Midwestern state, Minnesota, and two East Coast states nearly matched California’s sorry showing.

Some 83.33 percent of California’s urban interstates are overcrowded, followed by Minnesota at 77.78 percent and New Jersey at 73.35 percent, according to the 16th annual survey by The Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonpartisan group.

Manhattan popularized the term “gridlock” but traffic jams on New York’s urban interstates were only mediocre, ranking 37th at 53.39 percent, according to the libertarian-idea promoting group that compared volume-to-capacity ratios.

[I don't think this is a surprise to anyone in California.]