The Easy Rider Dividend : Investment in O.C. Freeway Improvements Begins to Pay Off

Orange County has been a maze of traffic construction projects in recent years. This no doubt has prompted even the most ardent supporters of infrastructure investment to wonder at times whether their patience will be rewarded one day with clear sailing.

About half the projects are underway or finished. They continue with an array of completion dates stretching into the year 2003. However, some relief is already at hand, and the early results are impressive. The investment in Measure M, Orange County’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, is beginning to pay off.

One highly visible freeway improvement came on line recently. It is the carpool connector at the Santa Ana and Costa Mesa interchange and at the Santa Ana and Orange interchange. The work provides more lanes as well as special routes for carpools, and direct-access drop ramps at Grand Avenue and Main Street. The cost for this project has been $165.2 million for right of way and $318.5 million for construction.

Rush-hour gridlock along the northbound Costa Mesa and Santa Ana freeways in the evenings is legendary. But on a recent Friday evening, we tried the new lanes, carrying the requisite number of carpool-lane passengers, and were impressed with the speed of passage. The drive time around 6 p.m. from MacArthur Boulevard serving coastal areas in the south, to Anaheim Stadium in the north, amounted to a matter of minutes during a period of very heavy traffic in the regular lanes. One quibble: It ought to be easier to get in and out of carpool lanes for those travelers who are not going great distances.

The new ease of movement has the potential to be a boon for the Anaheim Stadium complex, slated for a new look and further development in the years ahead. It also follows that transit between various distant points in the county, for example, Cal State Fullerton and Costa Mesa, will be vastly improved.

As this and other road improvements come on line, such as the new interchange at the El Toro “Y,” it will be a worthwhile marketing strategy for county centers of business, learning and entertainment to encourage carpools. Other dramatically shortened commutes can be made, offering people an easier day in return for their public investment.