Conflicts Rule Out a Junction

Nowhere are the problems of letting three agencies build and run roads more apparent than where the Riverside Freeway and Eastern Toll Road meet. That’s the point where public freeway, private toll lanes and county toll road come together.

But in the balkanized world of Orange County’s roads, that doesn’t mean the highways all connect with each other. Since the Eastern Toll Road opened more than a year ago, some commuters and politicians have questioned why it is impossible to get from the toll road to the 91 Express Lanes and vice versa.

“You have three very different systems which lack connectivity, not because there is a lack of desire,” said county Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who chairs the Eastern Toll Road board. “There are just competing motivations. But, look, that’s what happens when you have private interests taking over what was traditionally the government’s job.”

In fact, the government has agreed to back off from its customary role as road builder and fixer in much of Orange County. Documents obtained by The Times show that Caltrans has agreed not to make road improvements that could harm business on any toll road in the county.

At the same time, improvements that would make the roads more useful are in limbo.

The county agency operating the Eastern Toll Road would like a flyover to funnel traffic from the private 91 Express Lanes onto their toll road and say it always has been in their long-term plans. However, the project could be years away at best, with officials in October giving a low priority to funding the estimated $3.5 million it would take to plan the project.

“It’s an expensive project,” said Lisa Telles, a spokeswoman for the county’s Transportation Corridor Agencies.

But the operators of the 91 Express Lanes have reservations about such a connector, those in the Orange County Transit Authority say it’s not their problem, and observers say Caltrans is unlikely to build an expensive project that benefits only toll road users.

With each agency concerned about its own plans and priorities, no one gave thought early on to master-planning a connection that could make commuting easier for drivers.

Spitzer said he initially favored the now-aborted sale of the private toll lanes to NewTrac, a nonprofit group, because its directors had promised to use additional revenue to pay for such a connector.

Ten years ago, toll road supporters point out, there were no public funds available to build a 51-mile system that now includes the Eastern, Foothill North and San Joaquin Hills toll roads.

Even though her county agency hasn’t built the connector, Telles said, it did create a road that helps ease traffic in the county. The connector is only an issue because of the road’s success, she said.

But critics of toll roads--whether private or quasi-public--say Orange County transportation planners sacrificed the big picture in their willingness to get roads built any way they could.

Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster said that was made clear when the operators of the 91 Express Lanes sued to prevent Caltrans from making safety improvements on the Riverside Freeway. Buster said the lack of a connector between the 91 Express Lanes and the Eastern Toll Road is another example of shortsightedness.

“They’re looking out after themselves, not the convenience of their user,” Buster said. “It’s an instance of the inherent rigidity of these private franchises.”

Managers of the 91 Express Lanes have discouraged construction of a connector from their lanes to the Eastern. They fear it would bleed customers from their road, which has already taken a 29% hit since the Eastern opened in October 1998.

During a conference call with potential investors earlier this month, 91 Express Lanes General Manager Greg Hulsizer said providing additional entry and exit points from the lanes, including a connector to the Eastern Toll Road, would hurt business. Gary Hausdorfer, chairman of NewTrac, the nonprofit that would have bought the 91 Express Lanes, said the connector, which he said could cost up to $100 million, “might be a plus from the standpoint of convenience, but it could be a negative in terms of economics.”

Ellen Burton, director of long-range planning at the Orange County Transportation Authority, said such a connector “absolutely made sense” and is already on long-term regional maps. But, she said, it is not something county transportation officials are pursuing.

“That’s a TCA project,” she said, referring to the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which are concerned with the county’s own toll roads. “A number of people have talked about making it a seamless commute, but we don’t expect to have funds available to do it.”

Buster and other critics want the state to buy out the private operators of the 91 Express Lanes. State Assemblyman Rod Pacheco (R-Riverside) said this week that he plans legislation to do just that.

Pacheco’s plan is one of several efforts underway to reverse a policy that critics say has put private profits over the commuting interests of the public.

Among those, Riverside County supervisors on Tuesday voted 5 to 0 to ask state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer to investigate whether Caltrans violated the public trust or improperly forfeited its police powers when it agreed not to compete with the toll roads.

Not only did Caltrans make such deals with the private operators of the 91 Express Lanes and a group that wants to build an elevated tollway over the Santa Ana River bed, it entered into similar agreements with the public agency that runs 51 miles of county toll road.

Orange County, for example, has been carved up into five noncompetition zones. In those areas, Caltrans is prohibited from making road improvements--other than work already planned or underway--that could cost the toll roads business.

Not only did Caltrans agree not to compete with the toll roads, but the state agreed more than a decade ago to help make payments on the bonds sold to finance the Eastern, Foothill and San Joaquin toll roads if Caltrans completed any project determined to take business away from them, records show.

Those five zones cover nearly two-thirds of Orange County and nearly all of South County.

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Time to Choose

Commuters on the Riverside Freeway must choose among the 91 Express Lanes, the Eastern tollway (241) and traditional mixed lanes.

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times