The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee got a firsthand look at the 57/60 freeway interchange on Tuesday, 2.5 miles of dangerous lane alignments that have 600 accidents a year and is ranked the seventh-most congested interchange in the United States.

As he stood on Grand Avenue overlooking the unusually combined portion of the two major freeways, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., got a sense of the third-worst traffic spot in the state, even while remarking on Southern California’s ideal weather.

But what impressed Shuster most was the scaled-down fix presented to him by the cities of Industry and Diamond Bar during a meeting at Diamond Bar City Hall hosted by Rep. Ed Royce, R-Rowland Heights, also a member of the committee.

“I appreciate you are trying to solve the problem without breaking the bank,” Shuster said.

The projected cost is $265 million and will include separate fixes that will add lanes by preventing the lane drop-offs that cause bottlenecks. Over the 2.5 miles, 16 lanes of freeway traffic get squeezed into 12. The improvements included creation of a bypass lane to reduce the need for motorists to cross several lanes as they exit or enter the freeway at Grand Avenue.

Read more in Steve Scauzillo’s story BOTTLENECK