Ever Wonder Why The Drive Home Always Takes Longer, Silver Lake?

LOS ANGELES, CA — No one would ever call a morning commute through Los Angeles speedy, but have you ever noticed how it feels like the drive home after a long, hard day seems to take so much longer?

That's because it does.

A study released by USC Wednesday reveals that the evening slog takes a lot longer than the morning commute in Los Angeles. In fact, the afternoon commute was longer than the morning one 80 percent of the time last year, according to the report. The way home typically goes 14 percent slower than the way to work. What gives?

You are probably to blame, the study's authors found. If you are like most people, you likely run errands or go to dinner, staying on the road and clogging lanes in the evening. In the morning, however, commuters go straight to work or school, according to experts at CalTrans and LA Metro.

"We're trying to put some hard numbers behind things that Angelenos experience every day," USC journalism professor Gabriel Kahn said. "Many of us might experience that our evening commute is worse than the mornings. We're trying to figure out exactly by how much and why."

The figures stem from Crosstown, an ongoing research project that mines data on key quality-of-life indicators in Los Angeles, such as traffic, crime and air quality.

The research, based on average speed in each direction, found that evening commutes were 14 percent slower on average, compared to the same morning commute in reverse.

Here are the top five evening jams:

-- Southbound 5 between 10 and 605 -- 38 percent slower;

-- Southbound 405 between 118 and 10 -- 37.8 percent slower;

-- Eastbound 10 between Santa Monica Interstate 5 -- 36 percent slower;

-- Northbound 110 between 105 and 101 -- 33 percent slower; and

-- Northwest 101 between 5 and Topanga Canyon Boulevard -- 29 percent slower.

The project is an effort between various USC departments, including the Annenberg School of Journalism.

City News Service and Patch staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.