OCTD to Pay for Car-Pool Safety Zones, Newly Signed Bill Says

“Safety zones” separating car-pool and regular traffic lanes on the Newport-Costa Mesa Freeway will be paid for with funds from the Orange County Transit District, according to legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Under a bill introduced by Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) and signed earlier by the governor, striped, four-foot safety zones will be added to the California 55’s car-pool lanes and on all future car-pool lane projects throughout California.

The bill, SB622, calls for the project to be paid for with money from a $150-million account the OCTD has had for several years. Two-year-old legislation that allowed for interest earned on the account to be used to pay for highway projects expired this year.

The bill signed Wednesday will also allow part of the account’s principal to be used for such projects.

Seymour, a longtime car-pool lane opponent, dropped his opposition after agreeing with the OCTD and the California Department of Transportation on the four-foot buffers.

The senator said that since “OCTD buses use the car-pool lanes, it was expedient to use their funds for the project.”

“I’m very happy with the arrangement,” Seymour said.

The car-pool lanes were opened in 1985 on a 12-mile stretch of California 55 between the Riverside and San Diego freeways.

Syd Elicks, projects coordinator for Caltrans in Los Angeles, said his staff is studying how to best undertake the safety-zone project and predicted that they could be completed by next summer.

“We are preparing a report to consider several alternatives, all of which include the four-foot buffer zone,” he said.

Elicks said the project’s cost had not been determined but estimated that it would be $3 million to $10 million, “or perhaps a little more.”