The Country's Most Notorious Road System

The optimum speed to move traffic through a network is supposed to occur at 45 miles per hour. In Los Angeles, however, it's 60 miles per hour. This means that the "Highway Capacity Manual--the bible of all California freeway engineers--'is pure formula, wrong, based on no empirical formula.' Or maybe we're just beginning to understand how our freeways work, just starting to take the first steps toward a unified field theory of congestion." Think understanding traffic is simple? This fascinating Los Angeles Magazine article explains the art and science of transportation studies.