$4.5 billion for freeways is divvied up

State officials Wednesday approved the largest infusion of state money for road improvements in decades, but for many commuters across California, the promised traffic relief might not arrive for years.

The $4.5 billion in assistance approved by the California Transportation Commission eventually will ease the plight of motorists on the Southland’s most congested roads, including the San Diego Freeway, Interstate 5, and the notorious Riverside Freeway.

But it will take years before interchanges are fixed, carpool lanes are built and freeways widened. Many projects, particularly the most expensive ones, won’t be completed until 2012 or later.

Just as significant, the state money, which represents the first installment of a $19.9-billion transportation bond measure overwhelmingly approved by voters in November, covers only a fraction of today’s need.

The commission staff estimates that California requires up to $140 billion in highway and mass transit improvements to keep the state moving.

According to Caltrans, the percentage of highways in the state deemed congested rose from 32 to 43 from 1992 to 2002. Caltrans defines congestion as rush-hour traffic that moves at 35 mph or less.

At about the same time, the state’s population grew by 21% while the number of miles in the highway system rose by only 3%.

Though the state’s transportation needs are substantial, Wednesday’s action marked a turning point after years of neglect and worsening traffic congestion, particularly in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.

“This is a significant first step,” said Marian Bergeson, a former Orange County legislator and chairwoman of the nine-member Transportation Commission. “We haven’t been funding projects for years. Now, we can get the ball rolling again.”

During the state budget crisis, billions of dollars were shifted from transportation programs to cover deficits in the general fund, forcing the commission to withdraw financial support for road projects.

Bergeson and other transportation officials said the bond money will allow Caltrans and county transportation agencies to combine the assistance with county sales tax revenue and federal matching funds.

“There’s still a big need out there,” said Roger Snoble, chief executive of Los Angeles County’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “This is a great start. It is going to take a lot more to solve all the problems.”

Arthur T. Leahy, executive director of the Orange County Transportation Authority, said he could not recall the last time he saw such a surge in state money for pending projects. Orange County received $383 million in assistance.

“This is the first big deal in six years,” Leahy said. “We are now putting money back into transportation, rather than taking it out.”

The commission divided up the assistance before a standing-room-only crowd in the Irvine City Council chamber. About $1.8 billion was earmarked for projects in Northern California and $2.7 billion for Southern California.

“This is only a down payment to get us where we should have been years ago. Now we are spending money to bring ourselves current,” said Commissioner Larry Zarian, a former Glendale mayor and MTA board chairman.

“We promised [commuters] that we are going to relieve congestion, and that is what’s going to happen,” Zarian added. “Is it going to be 100%? The answer is no.”

In Los Angeles County alone, the state will spend $1.2 billion in bond money on three major projects.

Two of the projects are planned on Interstate 5, one through the San Fernando Valley and the other from the 605 Freeway interchange in Downey to the Orange County line, which is one of the oldest and least improved sections of the highway.

The third project involves adding a 10-mile carpool lane on the San Diego Freeway from the Santa Monica Freeway to the Ventura Freeway. It received $730 million in state assistance, the largest single allocation.

Commissioner Esteban Torres, a former longtime congressman from the Eastside of Los Angeles, said the message to solo drivers was simple: “At some point you’re going to have to double up to minimize the load on the freeway.”

After a last-minute pitch from representatives of Orange and Riverside counties, the commission agreed to partially fund additional lanes on each side of the Riverside Freeway from the Costa Mesa Freeway to Gypsum Canyon Road.

The Riverside Freeway, the main commuter link between Riverside and Orange counties, produces the longest delays for motorists of any highway in the state.

The $95-million widening, which has been highly rated by Caltrans for reducing delay, will receive $22 million in state assistance out of $48 million requested.

Though Los Angeles and Orange counties received additional funding, there were many more losers than winners. Commissioners approved funding for slightly more than a third of the 149 projects considered during the six-week evaluation process.

In Southern California, improvements to the obsolete Interstate 10-605 Freeway interchange in the San Gabriel Valley were rejected, as were three interchange widenings on Interstate 10 through the Fontana area in San Bernardino County. The widenings are needed to accommodate carpool lanes.

“We are quite disappointed that the I-10 interchanges were dropped from funding. They are key to the timely widening of the freeway,” said San Bernardino County Supervisor Dennis Hansberger.

Commissioners also sacrificed several key projects in rural areas to provide more funding for projects in major cities.

Over the vehement objections of officials from the state’s North Coast, the commission voted to divert $177 million from Mendocino County to other projects in Sacramento and the Bay Area.

It was a raw display of the political clout of the state’s highly populated urban areas.

As the day unfolded, other less-populated counties would suffer a similar fate: San Luis Obispo County watched in vain as $58 million to widen a bridge on Highway 101 across the Santa Maria River evaporated. A recommendation that Imperial County get $29 million to build a freeway bypass in Brawley was rejected.

“The urban centers,” Torres said, “have a greater need.”

dan.weikel@latimes.com

jeff.rabin@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Commission approves funding for California highway projects

In the biggest infusion of transportation dollars in decades, the California Transportation Commission approved spending $4.5 billion for dozens of projects across the state. Southern California will receive $2.7 billion, much of it to add carpool lanes to freeways.

*--* County/ Amount Award Route Description (in millions) date

Alameda 580 EB HOV lane, Hacienda to $72.2 2/08 Greenville 580 WB HOV lane, Isabel (Rt 84) interchange 68.0 7/08 580 WB HOV lane, Greenville 101.7 8/11 to Foothill 880 SB HOV lane, 94.6 10/11 Marina-Hegenberger Alameda/ Contra Costa 80 Integrated freeway/local road management, 55.3 7/09 Carquinez-Bay Bridge Calaveras 4 Angels Camp bypass 4.4 6/07 Contra Costa 4 Widening, Somersville to 85.0 11/09 Rt 160 Contra Costa/ Alameda 24 Caldecott Tunnel - 4th 175.0 6/09 Bore El Dorado 50 HOV lanes, county line 20.0 7/08 to Bass Lake IC Kern 46 Kecks Rd 4-lane (Kecks 45.0 7/10 Rd to Rt 33) Kings 198 4 lane expressway, Rt 43 48.7 8/09 to Rt 99 (North) Los Angeles 5 HOV/addl. lane, O. C. 387.0 8/10 line to Rt 605 5 HOV lanes, Rt 134 to Rt 73.0 11/08 170 405 NB HOV lane, Rt 10 to Rt 730.0 4/09 101 Marin 101 Marin-Sonoma Narrows 82.4 12/10 Seg. A (Novato) 101 WB 580 to NB 101 Aux lane 20.0 3/09 Monterey 1 2-lane expressway, 37.1 7/09 Salinas Rd interchange Napa/Solano 12 Jameson Canyon widening, 74.0 9/10 phase 1 Nevada 49 La Barr Meadows widening 18.6 6/09 Orange 22 HOV connector, Rt 22/405 200.0 3/10 and 405/605 57 Widen NB, Rt 91 to 70.0 6/10 Lambert Rd 57 Widen NB, Katella Ave to 20.1 5/11 Lincoln Ave 91 Add lanes, SR 55 to 22.0 2/12 Gypsum Orange/ Riverside 91 EB Aux lane, Rt 241 to 71.4 8/09 Rt 71 Placer 65 Lincoln Bypass 73.7 12/08 80 HOV & aux lanes, Sac. Co 15.0 5/08 to Eureka Rd Phase 2 80 WB HOV & aux lanes, 34.0 5/09 Eureka to Rt 65 Phase 3A Riverside 91 HOV lanes, Adams St to 157.2 6/11 60/91/215 interchange 215 Widen I-15 to Scott Road 38.6 11/10 Sacramento 50 HOV lanes, Watt Ave to 80.0 9/09 Sunrise Blvd, Phase I White Rock Rd 4 lane, 22.0 5/11 Sunrise Bl-Prairie City Rd San Bernardino 10 Widen Ramps, Aux lanes, 19.2 6/09 Cherry, Citrus & Cedar 10 WB mixed flow lane, Live 26.5 2/10 Oak Cyn to Ford St 215 HOV & mixed lanes, Rt 49.1 8/08 10-Rt 210, segments 1&2 215 HOV & mixed lanes, Rt 59.0 11/10 10-Rt 210, segment 5 215 Route 210/215 connectors 22.0 3/09 San Diego 15 Managed lanes, Rt 163 to 350.0 6/08 Rt 56 805 North Coast Corridor, 82.0 8/10 Stage 1A, Unit 2 San Joaquin 205 Aux lanes, 4 locations 25.0 5/10 in Tracy San Luis Obispo 46 4-lane expway, Geneseo 67.7 7/10 to Almond (Whitley 1) San Mateo 101 Aux lanes, 60.0 4/11 Embarcadero-Marsh Rd Santa Barbara/ Ventura 101 HOV lanes, Mussel Shoals 131.6 2/11 to Casitas Pass Rd Santa Clara 101 Widening, Yerba Buena to 30.0 3/10 I-280/I-680 101 Aux lanes, Rt 84.9 6/11 85-Embarcadero 880 SB HOV Extension, SR 237 71.6 12/10 to US 101 Santa Cruz 1 Aux lanes, Morrissey to 16.2 6/10 Soquel Ave. Shasta 5 Cottonwood Hills Truck 22.9 5/11 Climbing Lanes Solano 80 HOV lanes, Fairfield Rt 56.2 6/08 80/680/12 - Putah Creek Sonoma 101 HOV lanes, Wilfred 44.8 12/08 Av-Santa Rosa Av 101 HOV lanes, Railroad 42.8 4/09 Av-Rohnert Park Expwy 101 HOV lanes, 68.4 9/08 Steele-Windsor River (North Ph A) Stanislaus 219 Widen to 4-lanes, Rt 99 14.8 9/07 to Marrow Rd 219 Widen to 4-lanes, Marrow 18.8 12/09 Rd to Rt 108 Tulare 198 4 lane expressway, Rt 43 22.9 8/09 to Rt 99 (South) Tuolumne 108 East Sonora Bypass, 17.2 1/10 Stage 2

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Abbreviations used: HOV lanes - carpool lanes; EB, WB, NB and SB - eastbound, etc.; SR - state route; US - U.S. route; Aux lanes - auxilliary lanes

Source: California Transportation Commission