It Would Take 3 to Ride Free in Toll Lane Plan

The private toll lanes planned for the Riverside Freeway should be free only to car-poolers with three occupants or more, Orange County transportation officials have proposed, an idea that could miff Inland Empire drivers who voted to tax themselves for a car-pool lane.

The proposal, contained in a staff report that goes before the Orange County Transportation Authority on Thursday, differs sharply with an idea offered a few weeks ago by Riverside County transportation officials.

The inland county proposed that a longer project be built, but suggested car-pools of two or more not be charged. Riverside also suggested that construction costs be divided between the two counties and the California Private Transportation Corp., which was awarded rights to build the project. Orange County officials want the lanes built and financed entirely by the corporation.

Riverside’s recommendations stem from a belief that charging two-people car-poolers would be unfair to Inland Empire commuters, who recently voted to tax themselves to pay for car-pool lanes on the traffic-choked Riverside Freeway. Those lanes are now under construction and could be incorporated into the toll project.

California Private Transportation officials said they could work with any of the proposals now on the table.

“We’re looking forward to an early and amicable resolution to this issue,” said Gerald S. Pfeffer, the firm’s president. “I share the desire that I’ve heard in both counties to resolve these issues and move forward.”

Originally, the state Department of Transportation awarded Pfeffer’s company the right to build and operate 10 miles of toll lanes in the center median of the freeway, between the Costa Mesa Freeway and Riverside County line.

After first threatening to sue to block that project, Riverside County officials countered last month with a proposal to divide the costs three ways--with each paying up to $48 million--and dramatically increase the length of the project, stretching it from the Orange Freeway to Interstate 15--a distance of 20 miles.

Orange County transportation officials noted in the staff report released Wednesday that such a change would undermine the state’s original intent for the toll lane project--to test whether private firms could successfully build and operate roads.

“It would frustrate the whole purpose of the state legislation” that gave rise to the toll lane project, said Dana Reed, an OCTA board member who received the report. “I just don’t like changing the rules in the middle of the game.”

In addition, Orange County authorities question whether they could come up with their share of the money because a lawsuit is tying up most of the county’s transportation funds. The counties would also share legal responsibility for accidents along the route.

Those and other pitfalls convinced transportation staff members that a dramatic shift was impractical.

Nonetheless, they embraced Riverside County’s idea to lengthen the toll project. That still left one catch: The private firm’s financial calculations showed that the extra construction costs could be absorbed only if two-people car pools paid a toll, along with solo drivers.

State transportation officials fear that traffic problems might erupt if such toll lanes are matched with existing car-pool lanes, such as those on the Riverside Freeway that currently require only two people in a vehicle.

“As far as the three or more, we’d have to look at that fairly closely,” said Frank Weidler, a Caltrans deputy director. “This thing has to operate as a system, and we have to be concerned about the operational aspects where it ties in to Route 55.”