Should a Tunnel Be Built Through Cleveland Forest?

It would be one of Orange County’s most expensive road projects--a $1.3-billion highway linking the bedroom communities of the Inland Empire through a tunnel under the Cleveland National Forest to surging employment opportunities predicted for Orange County.

After years of studies and discussions, the Southern California Assn. of Governments is poised to announce this week whether it will push ahead with planning for the mammoth project--despite almost universal opposition from Orange County officialdom.

The agency, responsible for long-range planning in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties, describes the highway as a realistic, yet admittedly bold way of addressing the predicted imbalance in jobs and workers between Orange County and the Inland Empire.

Orange County is forecast to see explosive job growth over the next 20 years, attracting commuters from Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and creating what the government association predicts will be one of California’s most severe traffic nightmares.

To critics, construction of the partly subterranean highway would be environmentally disastrous for the Santa Ana Mountains, and would end up costing two or three times what is now estimated--if it can be built at all.

“I can’t even imagine what the explosives needed to blast a tunnel would do to the canyons and wildlife,” said Sherrie Meddick, who lives on the fringe of the national forest in Silverado Canyon. “Remember, this land was set aside for a national forest, not a freeway.”

As long as opposition to the so-called Cajalco Corridor project remains strong within Orange County, it is unlikely that the road will be built any time soon, because both the regional government association and local transportation officials must agree on the project before it can proceed.

Still, the tunnel idea has generated widespread interest outside the county, and a standoff over its fate could jeopardize a variety of other road projects endorsed by the Orange County Transportation Authority.

Earlier this year, the government association released a draft regional transportation plan that included the Cajalco Corridor, but left out dozens of smaller projects sought by local transportation planners, including the widening of the Garden Grove Freeway and improvements to the interchange where the San Diego and Corona del Mar freeways come together.

Orange County officials were clearly miffed over the draft plan, accusing the government association of dumping needed road improvements in favor of its pet project.

Dave Elbaum, Orange County’s top transportation planner, said county officials have since met with government association staffers and expect some of the projects sought by the county to be in the final regional plan when it is released this week.

But other projects, including the Garden Grove Freeway widening and a proposed light rail system from Irvine to Fullerton, remain in doubt, Elbaum added.

The disagreement comes as transportation planners predict more cars, increased gridlock and longer commutes on roads leading into and out of Orange County.

The government association projects that the number of commuters using the Riverside Freeway between Orange and Riverside counties will jump from 50,000 in 1990 to 200,000 in 2020--creating one of Southern California’s two most severe traffic problems.

“The congestion is unbearable today,” said Hansan Ikhrata, a planner with the government association. “Think of it increasing four times.”

Solving this traffic nightmare has been a real challenge because the Inland Empire is separated from Orange County by a range of rugged mountains. Besides the Riverside Freeway, the only other major road linking the two areas is the narrow and twisting Ortega Highway that runs from San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore.

Planners said it would be difficult to widen the winding highway, which is already the scene of countless accidents. Double-decking the Riverside Freeway or building a bus expressway nearby, two options that have been considered, could prove even more expensive than the tunnel project, Ikhrata said.

The feasibility of building a highway along the Cajalco Corridor has been studied several times over the last decade--and rejected just as often by the Orange County Transportation Authority, which concluded that it would cost too much and be too harmful to the environment.

Several alignments for the road have been considered, including one that would have taken it on a more southwesterly course from Cajalco Road, and beneath a different stretch of the national forest, before linking up with the Foothill Transportation Corridor (California 241) near Lake Forest.

The latest map shows the road starting at the junction of Interstate 15 and Cajalco Road and running due west to the Riverside Freeway where Orange and Anaheim Hills come together. The regional planning agency estimates that the four-lane highway it wants to build could divert as many as 120,000 commuters a day off the clogged Riverside Freeway by 2020.

But not if the highway’s likely neighbors have anything to say about it.

“It’s unreasonable for them to spoil the forest because of bad planning decisions,” said Silverado Canyon resident Meddick. “They say they need this road because there are too many houses and not enough businesses in Riverside. The solution then is to build more balanced developments.”

Meddick and others said the proposed Cajalco Corridor would desecrate the natural beauty of the Santa Ana Mountains, destroy wildlife habitat and regularly funnel thousands of cars into one of the area’s few nature preserves.

Construction of the tunnel, they said, could trigger rockslides in canyons. “We have a lot of unstable areas around here,” Meddick said.

County transportation officials said they have already taken a variety of steps to improve traffic flow from the Inland Empire, such as adding toll lanes to the Riverside Freeway, beginning construction on the Eastern Transportation Corridor and arranging for Metrolink train service to the area.

Elbaum, the Orange County transportation planner, said the regional government association’s dire traffic projections might not even come true, if some Inland Empire residents decide to cut their commutes by moving to Orange County.

“The question is whether people will drive three hours into work,” Elbaum said. “It’s possible that what we will see is a natural balancing take place . . . with some people moving closer to their jobs.”

To some workers who now make the commute, the tunnel idea does have merits.

Bill Fleming, a 35-year-old Moreno Valley resident who drives to Irvine each weekday for his job as a computer operator, said some relief is needed.

“There are days when it is just hell,” said Fleming, who added that his family cannot afford the housing prices of Orange County. “Sometimes, I will drive 20 miles out of the way to avoid the bottlenecks.”

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Commuter Crush

Although Orange County officials oppose the plan, the staff of the Southern California Assn. of Governments thinks a new roadway and tunnel through the Cleveland National Forest is the best way to relieve pressure on the Riverside Freeway, where by 2020 traffic is expected to quadruple from 1990 levels.

Cajalco Corridor Project

Length: 32.2 miles

Specifications: Four lanes; much of it in a tunnel

Cost: $1.3 billion-$2.3 billion

Capacity: Up to 120,000 vehicles per day

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Commuter Growth

Traffic on the Riverside Freeway is expected to increase dramatically over the next two decades. Projected growth in daily commuters entering Orange County from Riverside County:

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Compared to Riverside and San Bernardino counties, population growth in Orange County is projected to be much smaller while job growth will be much larger during the next 20 years:

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Population Growth Job Growth Orange County +11% +21% Riverside County 18% 12% San Bernardino County 19% 16%

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Other traffic-relief measures considered by SCAG:

* Double-decking the Riverside Freeway

* Building express bus lanes along Riverside Freeway

* Improving passenger train service

* Widening Ortega Highway

Source: Southern California Assn. of Governments, Times reports