Toll Lane Appraisal Funds Face Senate Vote

State lawmakers in Sacramento are set to vote today on a measure seeking $500,000 in state funds for an appraisal of the Riverside Freeway toll lanes in northeastern Orange County.

The toll lanes, called the 91 Express Lanes, became mired in controversy late last year when the private company that operates them tried to sell, for about $220 million, the rights to run the money-losing lanes.

Amid the furor, some elected officials in Riverside County urged the state to buy the lanes, but there was no independent valuation, and few felt comfortable with the price.

“We have to get the appraisal first,” state Assemblyman Rod Pacheco (R-Riverside) said Wednesday night. Pacheco sponsored the toll road bill (AB 2091) along with Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Newport Beach) and Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana).

The proposal passed the Assembly in May but stalled in the Senate. On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a scaled-down version on a 9-0 vote, sending it on to the full Senate.

“There shouldn’t be any problems,” Pacheco predicted of the leaner bill’s chances. Earlier versions called for the formation of a new government authority to buy the lanes. The current bill simply authorizes $500,000 for the appraisal.

Gov. Gray Davis might intervene, though, and agree to pay for an appraisal with funds that he controls. If that happens, lawmakers would withdraw the measure, Dunn said Wednesday.

“We have not heard that such a decision has been finalized, so we’re going to move forward until we hear differently,” Dunn said. “The issue is on [the governor’s] radar screen. It just hasn’t been addressed yet.”

Lawmakers said an appraisal is critical. Without that, state officials won’t know whether it is appropriate for the state to try to buy the lanes, an option that would unshackle Caltrans and allow the transportation agency to widen the chronically congested Riverside Freeway. A noncompete clause in the contract with the private toll lanes operator forbids Caltrans from making improvements to ease congestion on the adjacent public lanes.

“We need to solve this problem,” Pacheco said. “The folks who use that freeway don’t care what the solution is, they just want us to find it.”