Freeway Extension Cost Put at $1 Billion

A new engineering study concludes that extending the Orange Freeway along the Santa Ana River from Orange to Costa Mesa would cost $1 billion and that time is short because the Army Corps of Engineers plans to widen the river in 1994.

The latest study also determined that the $1-billion Santa Ana River flood control project and proposed freeway extension are physically compatible. The previous studies did not address the compatibility issue and estimated the freeway extension’s cost at $810 million.

“We figured that it doesn’t pay to go any further with the freeway extension concept unless we know that the two projects are feasible together,” said Kia Mortasavi, project development director at the Orange County Transportation Commission, which funded the $40,000 study.

But the new study also cautions that coordination of the two projects is under severe time constraints because several years of design and environmental studies are needed for the freeway widening, and the Army Corps of Engineers does not want to delay the river widening.

Road Straddling River

Conducted by Newport Beach-based Robert Bein, William Frost & Associates, the study recommends a design that would depress the freeway extension below grade in places where that would minimize its effect on nearby residents but would elevate it in other places. The study also recommends placing the northbound lanes on the east side of the river and the southbound lanes on the west. Alternatives such as an arterial highway built on top of a levee, an elevated, bridgelike expressway and a dry-weather roadway on the river bottom were also considered.

The study notes that a bikeway and an equestrian trail are on the river levees, and concludes that, while the freeway extension would not eliminate them, “it has to be recognized their setting will be affected.”

Currently there is no money for the proposed freeway extension, even though transportation officials say it is essential to relieve north-south traffic congestion in the county. County officials are planning to ask voters to approve a half-cent sales tax increase to help fund such projects, although no election date has been set. They are also hoping that state highway funding will increase through an increase in the state gasoline tax or other statewide revenue measures, including bond sales.

Also, freeway planners have not yet worked out how to merge the proposed extension with the San Diego Freeway without dumping too much new traffic on that already-congested freeway.