MOVING ALONG : In 1992,...

Despite all the talk about new rail service, monorails and high-tech tollways, Orange County commuters will depend as much on their automobiles in 1992 as ever, and congestion relief for most people will still be a futuristic dream.

Why?

Although millions of dollars will be poured into local highway and transit projects during the year, few will be completed because of the enormous lead time they require for construction.

And starting new projects depends on the outcome of a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of Measure M, the half-cent sales tax hike for traffic improvements approved in a countywide vote in November, 1990.

The tax increase is projected to raise $3.2 billion over 20 years for projects such as the widening of the Santa Ana Freeway, an elevated urban rail system and commuter rail service between Riverside and Irvine.

But opponents contend in court that a two-thirds majority vote was needed to enact Measure M instead of a simple majority. Two weeks ago, the state Supreme Court voided a half-cent tax increase for jails and courts in San Diego because it was passed by a majority of less than two-thirds, a decision that worried transportation proponents in Orange County. An appellate court is expected to rule in the Measure M case in a month or two.

“If we lose in the courts, we will have to rethink everything,” said Stanley Oftelie, chief executive officer of the Orange County Transportation Authority. A failure to build Measure M projects, he said, would inevitably lengthen already bearish commute times.

If the tax survives the court challenge, Oftelie said, OCTA will borrow huge sums against future tax revenue and “get it pumped back into the county’s economy by the third quarter.” A top priority, he said, will be the early purchase of rights of way for freeway expansion and rail service.

Out on the highway, the big story for 1992 will be the ongoing efforts to double the width of the traffic-choked Santa Ana Freeway to a dozen lanes through the heart of Orange County. Portions between the El Toro Y and Costa Mesa Freeway will open in the fall. To the north, the entire stretch in Santa Ana up to the Garden Grove Freeway will be under construction by the end of the year, with final completion not expected until 1996, Caltrans officials say.

The most impressive news, however, may come on the Orange Freeway, where a pair of car-pool lanes are expected to open in the spring, one whole year ahead of schedule. In addition, the final milelong segment of the Costa Mesa Freeway toward Newport Beach will open late in 1992.

Toll lanes also will be a big topic in 1992. On the Riverside Freeway, authorities expect to have a pair of toll lanes in each direction under construction this spring between the county line and the Costa Mesa Freeway.

The agency planning a trio of tollways in South County hopes to have the lawsuit-plagued San Joaquin Hills toll road under way by mid-1992. In the meantime, work will continue on the northern segments of the Foothill tollway, which will link Rancho Santa Margarita with communities to the north.

Also during 1992, the OCTA board will make a crucial decision about whether a planned, 42-mile monorail or other elevated, urban rail system will connect with the Metro Rail Green Line through Stanton on the old Pacific Electric trolley line or through Fullerton on Santa Fe tracks, Oftelie said. OCTA already owns the old trolley route.

Also to be resolved in 1992 is whether additional commuter rail service powered by diesel locomotives will be canceled as a result of controversial proposals to electrify both freight and commuter rail service in order to reduce air pollution.

Orange County officials are arguing strongly for at least the temporary use of diesel locomotives in 1993 to avoid delays, but the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Transportation Commission are worried about spending money on an obsolete, 19th-Century technology. They cite regional air quality plans that call for electrification by the year 2010 anyway.

One Orange County official--Supervisor Don R. Roth--will use much of the first quarter of 1992 trying to keep his personal dream alive: the proposed high-speed, magnetically levitated train between Anaheim and Las Vegas.

Bechtel Corp. has pulled out of the project, citing financial problems, and Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed legislation extending the life of a bistate commission overseeing the $5-billion project. But Roth and other maglev advocates are counting on the Legislature to agree to make the project a joint public-private venture for the first time, which could bring companies back to the bid table.

The maglev train, or something similar to it, is needed if the county hopes to pursue plans to make George Air Force Base near Victorville a new, regional airport.