BUENA PARK : City Presses Bid to Curb Wider Freeway

In an effort to stop a proposal that could widen the Santa Ana Freeway to 12 lanes, officials from Buena Park went to Washington last week to garner the support of local congressional representatives.

A 9-mile stretch of the road, from the Riverside Freeway to the San Gabriel River Freeway, is under consideration by state transportation officials for the widening project. Councilman Donald L. Bone and City Manager Kevin O’Rourke, along with officials from four Los Angeles County cities, met with several members of Congress and their staffers in an effort to convince them that widening the freeway to 12 lanes would irrevocably hurt the city.

Congress currently is putting together a funding package that could include the Santa Ana Freeway project. While they want the freeway to be improved, Buena Park officials said they strongly object to such a drastic proposal.

“The widening to 12 lanes would devastate the downtown,” O’Rourke said.

At stake are the city’s main sources of revenue, including car dealerships that hug the freeway just off Manchester Boulevard. As many as 32 businesses and 33 residential properties could be eliminated if a 12-lane road is approved. The result, city officials said, would be a loss of more than $1 million a year in sales tax revenue.

The road project also would jeopardize a large-scale commercial center being planned close to the freeway for added visibility.

The Los Angeles County cities of La Mirada, Commerce, Downey, Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs have joined Buena Park to fight the proposal.

The 12-lane concept has already been approved for other portions of the freeway. Buena Park officials hope to stop the 12-lane project at the Anaheim city limits.

“We were able to talk to some of the key players,” Bone said this week about the trip to Capitol Hill. “We are very hopeful.”