Highway Measure Contains Some Big Plums

The highway bill that became law with a Senate vote Thursday to override President Reagan’s veto contains plums for the City of Los Angeles and Orange County.

The bill allows the federal government to spend up to $870 million on the proposed Metro Rail subway system, a figure that includes the $108 million the city had already received this fiscal year.

It will also send an estimated $1 billion a year in highway funds to the state. Among the projects that will be funded are the $1.1-billion completion of the Century Freeway and the $550-million construction of high-occupancy-vehicle lanes aimed at relieving congestion on the Harbor Freeway, said an aide to Rep. Glenn M. Anderson (D-San Pedro), chairman of the House Public Works subcommittee on surface transportation.

The state will also receive funds for 15 so-called “demonstration projects.”

Money spent on those requires a 20% match by the state but will not count against funds the state receives under regular federal funding formulas.

Included in the demonstration projects:

- Designation of Orange County as one of seven sites permitted to have a toll road partly financed with federal funds. The provision’s five-year time limit on the start of construction means that the San Joaquin Hills freeway is a likely candidate for tolls, according to Orange County transportation officials.

- Permission for the state to count as part of its San Joaquin freeway funding share the value of land donated for the freeway by the Irvine Co. and other developers.

- Local spending of anticipated federal freeway funds in advance, with the county or state to be reimbursed.

- A $900,000 grant to develop a transportation management system in Anaheim.

--Port projects in Los Angeles, to be completed at a cost of $59 million.

- Expanded access to the Ontario Airport, at a cost of $29 million, in an effort to lessen congestion at other airports.

- An access road and parking for Burbank/Pasadena/Glendale Airport, $6 million.

- A wider segment of State Road 86 in Imperial and Riverside counties that has been the site of school bus accidents, $8 million.