This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

Two transportation studies released this week offer an unexpected view of California and the Los Angeles area, a state and region known for snarled freeways and ever-present smog.

Researchers at the Pew Center on the States said California was “leading the way” in measuring results from transportation investments.

[For the record, 4:53 p.m. May 23: A previous version of this post incorrectly said the state was "leading the way" in how transportation investments are spent.]

And the Brookings Institution ranked the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area 24th among the top 100 metropolitan areas for how well its transit systems serve residents and connect them to jobs, beating out regions such as Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington.

The Brookings' study, titled “Missed Opportunity: Transit and Jobs in Metropolitan America,” found that 70% of the nation's metro-area residents have access to some kind of transit and that coverage is highest in areas on the West Coast and worst in the South.

But the study cast a gloomy view of overall transit access to employment, saying a typical commuter using transit can only reach 30% of metro-area jobs in 90 minutes or less.