CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / PROPOSITION 111 : Road, Transit Initiative Amends Cap on Spending

Keith McKean has a nightmare: He is driving along a newly widened, 12-lane freeway between Irvine and Santa Ana when a sea of brake lights suddenly appears ahead, forcing him to come to a dead stop. The freeway ahead has narrowed to only six lanes and traffic has backed up.

McKean, however, is not just any commuter suffering from traffic stress. He is director of the California Department of Transportation’s district office in Orange County.

He will decide whether to allow motorists to use a widened portion of the Santa Ana Freeway between the El Toro “Y” and Newport Avenue near the Costa Mesa Freeway interchange, risking “bottlenecked” traffic, or allow the new lanes to remain empty while funds are sought to complete the freeway widening project.

But McKean also has a dream in which voters statewide approve Proposition 111, the “gas tax initiative,” on the June 5 ballot.

If passed, Proposition 111 and other transportation measures on the ballot would provide more than $1 billion for highway and transit projects in Orange County during the next 10 years, with the Santa Ana Freeway widening effort likely to have first draw on the money, according to the Orange County Transportation Commission.

Hammered out in a legislative compromise in Sacramento and supported by Gov. George Deukmejian, Proposition 111 would allow the state to fund more traffic improvements by amending the state’s Gann limit, which sets a cap on how much government can spend. Passage of Proposition 111 would, through companion legislation, raise the state’s gasoline tax by nine cents over five years. It would also trigger a new law requiring counties to adopt stringent congestion management plans to better coordinate zoning and transportation decisions.

Other Orange County transportation projects would be helped financially, such as the widening of the Riverside Freeway. The Orange County portion of that project is unfunded, although Riverside County officials--who benefit from having a local transportation sales tax--plan to build double car-pool lanes on each side of the freeway in their county, even if they’re forced to end the lanes at the Orange County line.

If Proposition 111 passes, transportation officials say, it would make possible some creative financing of the Riverside Freeway project. For instance, Riverside County might be willing to loan Orange County the money to complete the project on this side of the county line, if the California Transportation Commission can use Proposition 111 funds to reimburse Riverside County in later years.

According to the Orange County Transportation Commission, the June ballot presents an array of one-time transportation funding opportunities for local highways. Based on legislative formulas and a statewide ranking of Orange County’s projects, the June ballot could provide Orange County with:

$348 million in Proposition 111 proceeds for projects that Caltrans had to stop because money ran out, such as completion of the Santa Ana-Costa Mesa freeways interchange reconstruction.

$370 million in Proposition 111 funds for previously approved projects that had not yet been allocated any money.

$317 million from Proposition 111 for local road improvements, traffic systems management programs and major, interregional highways.

$149 million from Proposition 108, a companion to Proposition 111, for Amtrak corridor improvements and Orange County’s own commuter rail service.

$244 million from Proposition 116, sponsored by the Planning and Conservation League, for an Irvine monorail project, Amtrak improvements, a Riverside-to-Orange County commuter rail line, and $10 million for locomotives and rail cars.

Proposition 108, which goes into effect only if Proposition 111 also passes, authorizes $1.9 billion in state rail bonds. Proposition 116, which authorizes nearly $2 billion in general obligation bonds, stands on its own.

Critics of rail and other forms of mass transit favor more money for freeways and are campaigning against the ballot measures, but they are loosely organized in Orange County and do not yet have any visible campaign.

Drivers for Highway Safety, a Santa Ana-based, grass-roots organization critical of car-pool lanes, has been speaking out against mass transit and car-pool lane funding that would be generated by passage of Proposition 111 and the other measures.

At last week’s meeting of the Orange County Transportation Commission, for example, Bill Ward of Costa Mesa, a member of Drivers for Highway Safety, lashed out at officials who are “forcing drivers out of their cars into mass transit.”

Such efforts are guaranteed to fail, Ward said.

Some, but not all, slow-growth advocates are unhappy with the transportation ballot measures. Referring to traffic management plans that would be required if Proposition 111 passes, San Juan Capistrano rancher Tom Rogers argues that some major developers successfully lobbied for loopholes that would allow heavily congested intersections to remain that way, as long as another traffic improvement is made somewhere else that also provides benefits to motorists.

“The measure is worse than nothing, because it guarantees gridlock in perpetuity,” Rogers said. “It supersedes the county’s own, stiffer growth management program.”

But Orange County transportation officials bridle at such criticism, saying that the county is already choking on traffic and needs as much help as it can get.

Said McKean: “My feeling is, let’s give these ballot measures a chance and get some real concrete out there that can be used by real people. There is no other way or, with recent population growth projections and the congestion we already have, we’re going to burn down the tree and catch the whole forest on fire.”

O.C. PROJECTS NEEDING GAS TAX MONEY

Proposition 111 and other transportation measures on the June ballot would provide more than $1.7 billion for highway and transit projects in Orange County, with the Santa Ana Freeway widening effort likely to be the first priority for the funds. The following is a list of some of the projects.

First 10 years of funding:

Route Section Project Santa Ana Fwy. Costa Mesa Fwy. interchange Final stage reconstruction Santa Ana Fwy. Costa Mesa Fwy. to Widen to 12 lanes Garden Grove Fwy. Santa Ana Fwy. Garden Grove Fwy. to Buy right of way for Riverside Fwy. widening Orange Fwy. Santa Ana Fwy. to Lambert Ave. Car-pool and auxiliary lanes, ramp meters Riverside Fwy. Orange Fwy. to Riverside Car-pool County border and auxiliary lanes, ramp meters

Second 10 years of funding:

Route Section Project Santa Ana Fwy. Garden Grove Fwy. to Widen freeway Riverside Fwy. Santa Ana Fwy. San Diego Fwy. Remodel to reduce bottleneck interchange Interstate 5 San Diego Fwy. to Add car-pool lanes Coast Hwy. Costa Mesa Fwy. 17th St. to Riverside Fwy. Widen freeway

Projects needing additional funding for construction within 20 years:

Route Section Project Santa Ana Fwy. Riverside Fwy. to Widen freeway San Gabriel River Fwy. Interstate 5 Coast Hwy. to Widen freeway Avenida Pico Garden Grove Fwy. San Diego Fwy. to Widen freeway Costa Mesa Fwy. Costa Mesa Fwy. 17th St. to Coast Hwy. Build freeway, interchanges Riverside Fwy. San Gabriel River Fwy. to Widen freeway Costa Mesa Fwy.

Source: California Department of Transportation