By HOWARD FINE
An unlocking of money in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., has breathed new life into a $1 billion plan to widen the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway from the Orange County line into Los Angeles.
Two developments finally could get the long-delayed project moving: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to end the diversion of $1.3 billion in gasoline taxes to the state’s general fund, and U.S. Senate approval of a $295 billion highway bill that’s $11 billion more than what the House of Representatives approved.
President Bush favors the House plan but may be open to compromise.
The prospect of widening the Santa Ana Freeway through south Los Angeles gives hope to one of the area’s worst bottlenecks.
On the OC side, the freeway has been widened to five lanes in each direction, complete with carpool lanes and “flyover” ramps that allow carpoolers to switch freeways without entering regular traffic. That’s thanks to a $2 billion overhaul in the 1990s.
Traffic then bottlenecks just over the L.A. County line, where the freeway is just three lanes in each direction and hasn’t changed for years.
“Traffic really hits the brakes when it gets to L.A. County,” said David Yale, director of regional programming for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “And this bottleneck has really impacted our ability to move people and goods throughout the region.”
Construction would start in late 2006 and last about five years.
The seven-mile Santa Ana Freeway project would add two lanes in each direction from the OC line to the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway, through La Mirada, Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk and Downey. It also would reconstruct two overpasses.
Plans call for one carpool lane and one regular flow lane to be added in each direction.
The stretch, a major commuter corridor that’s gridlocked for several hours each day, is one of the region’s major commercial routes.
Trucks make up about 20% of the 200,000 vehicles using it each day.
A plan to widen the freeway has been on the books for more than 12 years, but funding has been delayed, driving up costs for land acquisition and materials.
Back in the mid-1990s, the California Transportation Commission earmarked $125 million in funds to widen the L.A. County portion of the freeway, with another $75 million for construction of a new overpass at Carmenita Road in Santa Fe Springs.
But during the state’s budget crisis, these funds were diverted to the general fund to fill the multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
Next year, work is slated to start on the remaining portion of the freeway in OC that wasn’t upgraded in the 1990s, from the Riverside (91) Freeway in Buena Park to the L.A. County line.
Land is being bought to make way for the expansion.
OCTA officials recently upped their cost for the project, from $205 million to $251 million.
OC has been able to keep working on the Santa Ana Freeway, thanks to Measure M, which was passed in 1990.
The state is providing about $70 million for the project.
Fine is a staff writer with the Los Angeles Business Journal.
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More Measure M
Measure M, the half-cent sales tax for road projects passed in 1990, doesn’t expire for another six years.
But transportation and other officials are gearing up to get a renewal vote on the November 2006 ballot. Support for the measure could hinge on how insistent the Orange County Transportation Authority is on including a light rail project in the mix.
“We have more transportation projects than available resources to fund them,” OCTA spokesman Ted Nguyen said. “At the federal and state levels, transportation dollars still are dwindling.”
Measure M is set to raise more than $3 billion in its 20-year life up until 2011. OCTA has used it to make freeway upgrades at the El Toro “Y” and the Orange Crush, as well as street improvements. The renewal would be for a 30-year period and worth about $10 billion, though that isn’t a final figure.
If Measure M isn’t renewed, OC transportation projects could come to a halt, OCTA officials say.
A sticking point for Measure M could be light rail. Earlier this year, OCTA dropped the controversial CenterLine project after failing to get federal funding.
A Measure M ballot measure hasn’t been drafted yet. OCTA is getting input from local officials and community leaders.
State Sen. John Campbell, a Republican from Irvine, said he wouldn’t be inclined to support a Measure M renewal if the money ends up being for light rail. He said he would consider that a misuse of funds with pressing need for buses and road fixes.
“I am not philosophically opposed to rail systems, but I have not yet seen one that can work economically in an area as decentralized as OC,” Campbell said. “Most of us expect the vast majority of (Measure M money) will be on streets and roads.”
Once a measure is drafted, two-thirds of OCTA’s directors, a majority of the Board of Supervisors and a majority of the county’s city councils would have to vote in favor of it to get it on the ballot.
The ballot itself would need to get two-thirds support from county voters.
“To get a two-thirds vote next year they can’t just ask the public if they want to renew Measure M,” said departing Orange County Business Council Chief Executive Stan Oftelie. “They have to tie it to specific projects.”
,Chris Cziborr
