A Blueprint for Traffic Improvement : * With Measure M, County Voters Know Exactly Where Their Money Is Going

Transportation Commission Chairman Dana W. Reed quite accurately describes Measure M, the proposed half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements in Orange County, as “practically a contract with the voters.”

What this means is that voters will get more from Measure M than mere promises of improvement. They will get a specific blueprint for where their dollars will go. In these tight budgetary times, that’s important. Voters understandably are wary of issuing blank checks.

With Measure M, they know exactly what their money will buy; indeed, they quite literally can drive around the county now and see places where their choice to approve the measure will pay off in the better flow and management of traffic. Or they can let their fingers do the walking through the Orange County sample ballot and voter information pamphlet, which has a precise rundown, with maps, of all the $3.1 billion worth of transportation benefits.

The $1.3 billion in freeway projects will affect the movements of every person who drives in Orange County at some point in his or her week. There is also $350 million worth of regional street and road projects, which include a 220-mile network of arterial streets slated for improvement. Under this program, regional interchanges will be improved, as will intersections and signal coordination.

Local street and road projects, including projects for maintenance and improvement, are scheduled to receive $650 million. $775 million is earmarked for various transit projects. And passage of Measure M will have the secondary benefit of bringing in state gas tax and rail bond funds to match local dollars.

Nobody knows for sure what these benefits will cost average residents; it obviously will depend on what they spend in retail sales. But Reed’s estimate is a modest $60 a year for a family of three that has an annual income of between $55,000 and $60,000.

That’s not too much for unclogging Orange County and getting it moving again. Vote “Yes” on Measure M.