An OSPF router will always prefer an intra-area route over an inter-area route.
Consider the circumstance where two ABRs are connected between the same two OSPF areas, and advertise both Type 2 and Type 3 LSAs, as in the following scenario:
- ABR1 has O metric 21 to reach Network B
- ABR1 has O IA metric 16 to reach Network B, since ABR2 is flooding Type 3 LSAs over its connection to it.
- ABR1 will still prefer the cost of 21 because it is an intra-area route.
Stuck-in-Active: Journal of an IT-Network Administrator 