MTA panel wants $1.7 billion in transit bonds

Widening the heavily congested Santa Ana and San Diego freeways tops Los Angeles County’s wish list of highway projects seeking new state infrastructure bond money.

Transportation planners want to eliminate the bottleneck on the Santa Ana Freeway at the Los Angeles-Orange County line, where five lanes of traffic funnel into three lanes in each direction.

They also hope to secure $730 million in state bond money to build a northbound carpool lane on the San Diego Freeway between the Ventura and Santa Monica freeways.

The southbound lane along the same stretch is under construction. To finance those and other highway construction projects, a Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority committee on Wednesday recommended that the full board petition the state for $1.7 billion in bond money.

“We recognize that these are some of the most important projects to increase mobility and help good movements in the Los Angeles region,” said Doug Failing, who heads the California Department of Transportation’s Los Angeles-area district.

Under Proposition 1B, approved by voters last week, the California Transportation Commission will divvy up $20 billion for transportation capital projects statewide.

The first available pool of money, dubbed the Corridor Mobility Improvement Program, will distribute $4.5 billion on a competitive basis. Nominations are due Jan. 16.

The MTA board is scheduled to seek funding for these freeway projects:

* Adding carpool lanes on the Golden State Freeway, between the Hollywood Freeway and the 134 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley: $73 million.

* Filling a gap in the El Monte Busway, a carpool lane, on the 10 Freeway between Baldwin Park and San Bernardino County: $356 million.

* Creating a smoother transition from the eastbound 10 Freeway to the southbound 605 Freeway: $71 million.

* Widening California 138 from Avenue T to California 18 in the Palmdale/Lancaster area: $111 million.

* Making technological improvements, such as ramp meters and loop detectors in the freeway and traffic light synchronization on arterial streets, to improve rush-hour traffic flow: $40 million.

“We’ve asked for $1.7 billion,” said David Yale, the agency’s director of regional planning. “That’s more than we actually expect to get in the competition, but we didn’t want to ask for less.”

Even with the influx of new money, commuters on the Santa Ana Freeway shouldn’t expect immediate relief. It will take at least 10 years to design and build the four-lane expansion through La Mirada, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs and Downey.

That will be six years after Orange County completes a $251-million project to widen the last two miles up to the Los Angeles County line.

Until now, the transit agency had committed $1 billion to adding the carpool and mix-flow lanes to match those in Orange County, and was scouring its capital budget for more.

“The trouble is that it is going to cost $1.4 billion to build,” Yale said. The MTA is planning to seek $387 million from the state.

He credited the state bond issue with moving the projects ahead though not necessarily much faster. “The bonds make it more certain that we can deliver in 2016,” he said.

On the Westside, carpool lanes on the northbound San Diego Freeway could be completed four years sooner, under a deal to design and build the project simultaneously.

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., believes closing the gap in the northbound carpool lane through the Sepulveda Pass is long overdue. Not only will it encourage motorists to carpool, but the extra lane should also ease the evening commute into the San Fernando Valley.

“When you only have a carpool lane in one direction, you only have half an incentive,” said Close, an attorney who spends up to an hour driving home from his Santa Monica office.

Benefits of the bond issue go beyond the immediate construction projects, transportation officials said.

The infusion of bond money frees up local transportation dollars for unfunded projects, such as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposed Red Line subway to the sea and extension of the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica.

Highway projects, such as carpool lane connectors where the Golden State Freeway meets the San Diego Freeway in the San Fernando Valley, also may be built sooner.

The full MTA board will consider the priority list at its next meeting Dec. 7 at its headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.

The state commission will allocate the money by March 1.

jean.guccione@latimes.com