Study Sees More Grief for O.C. Commuters

Commuters streaming into Orange County from Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties will see the day’s “rush hour” swell from four to seven hours over the next two decades, according to a regional transportation study.

The study, which focused on the rugged Chino Hills area, the main gateway to Orange County from points east, blamed the nightmarish scenario on two competing consequences of Southern California’s economies: the booming job market in Orange County and the booming market of more affordable housing in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The Chino Hills area, which has been dubbed the “Four Corners” area because the borders of all four counties converge there, will see traffic levels double by the year 2020 and speeds slow from 25 mph to about 10 mph along notorious stretches of the Riverside and Orange freeways.

The report, which is being reviewed by the Orange County Transportation Authority and the Southern California Assn. of Governments, blames much of this congestion on new workers who land jobs in Orange County and Los Angeles but live in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

In response, analysts have set forth a $1.3-billion package of suggested improvements: a list of 55 recommendations that include new roads, additional toll lanes, new express bus routes and expanded light rail service.

However, the report’s authors concede that in some cases, particularly along the jammed Riverside Freeway, these fixes are “woefully inadequate” in dealing with a quarter-million more commuters.

In other instances, legal battles and disagreements between counties over the proper solutions may make the report’s recommendations untenable.

Ultimately, analysts say, policy makers must address the lopsided commuting patterns with policies geared to putting more affordable housing where the jobs are.

For example, Orange County’s population is projected to increase 25% between 1994 and 2020, but the county’s employment is projected to grow by more than 70%. James G. Douglas, project manager for the Four Corners Study, said there is only so much that can be done to improve transportation if Riverside County continues to grow as a bedroom community and job demand elsewhere grows.

“Eventually, you get to a point where the transportation system can’t handle it anymore,” Douglas said. “Eventually, people will reach the point where they can’t endure the commute anymore and they just won’t make the commute for jobs here.”

Few drivers were surprised by the study’s predictions, including an increase of nearly 50% in commuting time over the next two decades.

‘I’ve been driving through that area for five years and it’s only gotten worse,” said Debbie Litzinger, a Riverside County resident who commutes daily to Ricoh Electronics in Tustin. “I feel myself getting angrier and angrier every day. I feel like I’ve spent half my life on the 91 Freeway.”

The report, which was done by Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas in Orange, concludes that past attempts to reduce congestion in the area, including construction of the Eastern Transportation Corridor toll road and the installation of restricted carpool lanes on the Riverside, Orange and Pomona freeways, have all failed to ease the mounting congestion.

Although the study fails to offer final solutions to the traffic problem, some policy makers say it adds fuel to a controversial proposal to build a new transportation route between Orange and Riverside counties.

“I’m absolutely convinced that we need an alternative freeway or toll road,” said Orange County Transportation Authority Director and Orange County Commissioner Todd Spitzer. “North Orange County and the Inland Empire are really on the precipice of a transportation crisis.”

Already, a committee of Orange County transit directors has scheduled talks with their counterparts in Riverside County to discuss such a possibility. The discussions are part of Riverside’s ongoing overhaul of its county plan.

County officials have already begun a long-range study examining proposals for four new transportation corridors: two within the county and two more connecting the Moreno Valley to San Bernardino County and Riverside County to Orange County.

The Four Corners report does not examine the possibility of a new transportation corridor, but it does say there are numerous obstacles to upgrading the Four Corners area. They include steep, hilly terrain, legal battles surrounding the Riverside Freeway and its toll lane franchise, and efforts to create a large wildlife preserve in the area.

The study’s most expensive recommendations focus on the Orange and Riverside freeways. It recommends a $250-million overhaul of the chaotic, mile-long interchange between the Orange and Pomona freeways in Diamond Bar. It also suggests a $307-million plan for adding two lanes of traffic, possibly toll lanes, to the 15-mile run of the Orange running between the Garden Grove and Pomona freeways.

The study also calls for the development of express bus service along the Orange, connecting Orange County to the City of Industry Metrolink station in Los Angeles County. For the Riverside Freeway, the report recommends adding two toll lanes to a notorious bottleneck between the Eastern Toll Road and the Corona Expressway. It also calls for the construction of toll connector ramps to those same two roadways and the extension of toll lanes east to the 15 Freeway--for a total estimated cost of $250 million.

The report notes, however, that legal issues surrounding the Riverside Freeway toll franchise complicate these improvements, and Riverside officials flatly object to extending the toll lanes into Riverside County. “That’s a nonstarter for us,” said Riverside County Transportation Commission spokesman John Standiford.