A driver in West Milford could whip out an egg, hard-boil it and eat it. Or cook a TV dinner. Or, if a car full of fans were rushing home to watch a basketball game, they would miss nearly half of the first quarter.

Welcome to West Milford, home of the country's longest traffic light.

Drivers pulling up to the light at the intersection of Clinton Avenue and Route 23 in Passaic County can wait as long as 5 minutes and 33 seconds during the morning rush hour if they approach it as it is turning red.

Looked at another way, residents on Clinton Avenue who need to use Route 23 could spend about 20 hours a year waiting at the light. The only light that comes close to being as long, transportation officials say, is in Delaware -- and that light lasts only four minutes.

Maurice Rached, a project engineer with the state Department of Transportation in Bergen, Passaic and Essex Counties, said that drivers trying to cross Route 3 in Bergen and Passaic counties and Routes 1 and 9 in Essex County had similar problems.