State Approves $5.4 Billion in New Road, Rail Projects

Doling out the rewards of an increased gasoline tax, the California Transportation Commission on Wednesday approved $5.4 billion in new road and rail projects designed to unclog streets and freeways and nudge motorists out of their cars and into mass transit.

With few exceptions the gubernatorial commission followed the recommendations of its staff in voting to give the bulk of the money to projects in urban areas such as Los Angeles and Orange counties, where freeway congestion has become as much of a daily irritant as smog and crime.

In the state’s population centers, the commission allotted as much money for commuter, urban and intercity rail projects as it did for road programs. Los Angeles County alone was scheduled to get $1.4 billion in rail projects. “This year’s program is a very heavy rail program. We’ve never had anything like it before,” said Peter Hathaway, commission deputy director for finance and highways.

Orange County will receive $40 million to improve and develop commuter rail services to Los Angeles and Riverside counties. The Orange County Transportation Commission inaugurated such service between Orange County and Los Angeles in May, and it is operated by Amtrak under contract with the commission. Rail service between Riverside and Orange counties, through Santa Ana Canyon, is still in the planning stages.

Improvements to the Los Angeles commuter rail will include adding stations at Mission Viejo, northern Irvine and Buena Park.

The massive project to widen the Santa Ana Freeway, the county’s top funding priority for 10 years, will consume the bulk of the highway funds allocated to Orange County. The state commission provided $155 million for cost overruns on the project--specifically for the freeway sections in Tustin and Santa Ana--and $40 million to buy right of way through Anaheim. (Counting $170 million from a previous allocation that is being carried over into the new budget, the Santa Ana Freeway project received $365 million Wednesday.)

The commission allotted $45 million to help pay for car-pool lanes on the Riverside Freeway between Riverside County and the Orange Freeway. However, commissioners said that if a private consortium follows through on plans to build the lanes and operate them as toll roads, the money will go to the Santa Ana Freeway.

In addition, the financially beleaguered San Joaquin Hills tollway, an extension of Highway 73, received another $5 million, raising the state’s contribution to $40 million.

All told, the county is scheduled to receive about $455 million for transportation improvements during the next seven years.

“We hit the jackpot,” said Stanley T. Oftelie, executive director of the Orange County Transportation Commission. “This shows that we have projects that are competitive on a statewide basis . . . . We’re a winner.”

Both road and rail projects were spread out over seven years in a State Transportation Improvement Program, which set a tentative date for construction to begin and the total amount the state is willing to devote to each project. The dollars for each project stacked up into the millions, and few were given full funding. In most cases, commissioners expect local officials either to come back in later years for more money or to match state dollars with local dollars.

Money for the projects came from a variety of revenue sources, but it was the gasoline tax increase and $1-billion bond issue for rail transit approved by the voters in June that enabled the commissioners to endorse hundreds of projects that had been delayed for years because of a lack of funds. Motorists began paying a 5-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase Aug 1. The tax will go up another penny each January for the next four years.

“This is a milestone State Transportation Improvement Program because there is finally some money,” said Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco), chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Commissioners offered a note of caution, however, in pointing out that their funding program counts on voters’ approving two more $1-billion bond issues for rail transit. If the two issues should be voted down or withdrawn from the ballot, Hathaway said, there will have to be drastic cuts in the rail transit program.

The commission will take a final vote on the transportation improvement program today, but it is not expected to change its position on any of the projects approved Wednesday.

The only matter left unresolved by Wednesday’s vote is an attempt by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to add more projects. Commissioners said they would consider approving the additional projects if the local officials would agree to take funds from other projects to pay for them.

Times staff writer Jeffrey A. Perlman contributed to this report

TRANSPORTATION SPENDING A. $40 million for commuter rail services to Riverside and Los Angeles. (Another $100 million was earmarked for related Inland Empire rail service, some of which would connect with Orange County’s.) B. $45 million to add car-pool lanes on the Riverside Freeway (91) from Riverside County to the Orange Freeway (57). C. $40 million to buy more right-of-way for Santa Ana Freeway (5) widening in Anaheim. D. $155 million for cost overruns on widening the Santa Ana Freeway (5) in Tustin and Santa Ana. The money is in addition to an earlier $170 million allocation that is being carried over into the new budget. E. $5 million more toward the San Joaquin Hills tollway (73), boosting the state’s contribution to $40 million.