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Inland Panel Agrees on 91 Plan

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Times Staff Writer

Ending a long-standing rift with Orange County over transportation policy, Riverside County officials Wednesday unanimously adopted an array of recommendations to reduce congestion on the Riverside Freeway.

The 30-member Riverside County Transportation Commission gave priority to widening the 91 by up to four lanes from Interstate 15 in Riverside County to the Costa Mesa Freeway in Orange County.

The list of projects, agreed upon after 18 months of study, is the same as those unanimously approved Monday by the Orange County Transportation Authority’s board of directors.

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Commissioners also approved the continued study of elevated lanes along the 91 corridor and a tunnel connecting Riverside and Orange counties through the Santa Ana Mountains.

The subterranean highway has been widely supported by Riverside County officials but opposed by some south Orange County cities, Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Cathryn De Young, who is a candidate for county supervisor, and the Irvine Co., one of Orange County’s largest developers.

“This has been a long, long process, and it has been very controversial,” said Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione, a member of the county transportation commission. “Bringing both counties together and for them to agree unanimously on what to do about the 91 is a major accomplishment.”

For almost a decade, transportation officials from the two counties barely spoke to each other while population growth clogged the Riverside Freeway -- the only major highway linking the two regions. Projections indicate the number of daily trips made by motorists will increase from 250,000 to as many as 450,000 by 2025.

Orange County’s solution in 1995 was to open the 91 Express Lanes, a privately owned tollway that ran 10 miles down the median of the Riverside Freeway from the county line to the Costa Mesa Freeway. To ensure the toll road’s success, an agreement between the state and the owner forbade improvements to the Riverside Freeway.

The lanes, which are largely used by commuters from the Inland Empire, set off a political firestorm. Elected officials from Riverside County sued the state in an effort to overturn the controversial non-competition clause. The feud even reached the state Legislature, with Riverside area representatives refusing to cooperate with Orange County’s delegation.

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The discord finally ended in January 2003, when the OCTA purchased the tollway from California Private Transportation Co. for $207 million.

The authority immediately scrapped the non-competition agreement, clearing the way for talks between the counties about the Riverside Freeway.

“The hatchet has been on the way to being buried for the past two years,” said Orange County Supervisor and OCTA board chairman Bill Campbell. “I believe we have a great working relationship now.

“I hope we can create the same relationships with San Diego and Los Angeles counties.”

The Riverside commission also agreed Wednesday to improve public transit between the two counties and to eliminate a controversial plan to widen Ortega Highway, a winding two-lane road through the mountains of southern Orange and Riverside counties.

Similarly, the commission canceled further consideration of an alternative route next to the Riverside Freeway that would have required costly improvements to the Costa Mesa Freeway.

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