L.A. throws away traffic data

Transportation planners get mounds of daily data from all the sensors installed beneath Los Angeles streets, but they throw it all away after a few days. The Times reports that "because the information is discarded, it cannot be used to determine over time where traffic is increasing -- or by how much. In fact, city officials said they don't have traffic counts for some of the city's busiest intersections -- and can't say how much congestion has increased over the years."

"It's appalling," said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel.

With all the computers the city has thrown at traffic in recent years, they ought to be able to tell us what was the busiest intersection in town yesterday.