Measure M Offers Access to Ready Funds : Certain Transportation Monies Must Be Matched Locally or Lost to Other Jurisdictions

On Nov. 7--the day after the election--Orange County stands to lose $85 million in money earmarked for commuter rail projects if voters fail to approve Measure M, the proposed half-cent sales tax for transportation. What’s more, the county could lose an estimated $35 million a year for the next 10 years for sorely needed freeway widening and other traffic improvements.

By the turn of the century, it is estimated that total losses could add up to more than $400 million. That staggering amount is money that has already been approved by California voters that could go to other areas instead of Orange County--the only urban county in the state that so far has refused to approve a half-cent sales tax for transportation.

If, on the other hand, voters approve the measure, the county would immediately become eligible for $15.5 million in rail bonds approved in June. That money could buy equipment and improve stations along Amtrak’s line to allow more commuter trains during peak hours. Rail bonds could also provide $45 million to $60 million for right-of-way acquisition--the county’s share of $330 million earmarked for five counties. If Measure M fails, the money will go to four other counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Los Angeles.

In addition, with the passage in June of a statewide gasoline tax hike, Orange County became eligible for funding of certain transportation projects. But about $35 million a year of that must be matched at a local level, or it is lost to other jurisdictions.

Loss of the gas tax money could mean as much as a 10-year difference in when the Santa Ana Freeway widening project--now under way--can be completed. Also delayed, perhaps indefinitely, would be construction of additional lanes on stretches of the Riverside and Newport-Costa Mesa freeways and Interstate-5 south of the El Toro “Y.”

That’s a lot of lost money for a county where traffic is an everyday misery. In the long run, it would be half-a-penny-wise, and hundreds of millions of dollars foolish, to vote down Measure M.