Freeway Funding May Fall Short

An ambitious $107-million plan to unclog the interchange of the San Diego and Costa Mesa freeways--one of the busiest in the state--may be scaled back because of problems the city of Costa Mesa has had in funding its portion, transportation officials said Friday.

City officials are about $7 million short of the $20.2 million they have promised for untangling the freeway ramps where traffic weaves dangerously near South Coast Plaza.

If the city doesn’t commit by April 17 to doing the work, Orange County Transportation Authority officials say they will be forced to redesign a nearly $48-million carpool-to-carpool lane connector.That would delay for about a year the phase that was scheduled to begin later this year and be finished in late 2004.

If that happens, transit planners say, Costa Mesa will have to pay redesign costs estimated at $500,000 to $800,000.

City and transit officials say they have been working together for months to resolve the problem, even as construction has been underway on the first phase of the project--the southern carpool-to-carpool lane connector which should be finished by late 2002.

But with bids for the second connector scheduled in May, transit officials say time is running out. An update on where the project stands is scheduled to be presented to OCTA board members at Monday’s meeting.

“We’re all hopeful that we can all do it together,” said Dave Elbaum, head of planning for the OCTA, “but we’ve reached a point of needing a formal commitment from them.”

That commitment is needed because the second and third phases of the project--the northernmost carpool connector and the local street improvements--have been designed to be done in tandem.

OCTA and Costa Mesa agreed in 1994 that if either agency failed to meet the schedule, it would be responsible for paying the redesign costs.

William Morris, Costa Mesa’s director of public services, said city staff is still exploring ways to find the money. Such plans are scheduled to be presented to the City Council at its April 17 meeting.

Morris said the city has received more than $9 million in grants--much of that from Measure M tax funds approved by voters in 1990--and has saved several million more, but is still short of the total needed.

So far, Costa Mesa has spent about $800,000 on construction planning in addition to acquiring the right of way needed. Morris said the prospect of backing out of the project, losing the grant money and paying for the connector redesign is painful.

Morris said promising to do the freeway and local street improvements simultaneously made sense, although the cost has proven formidable. The City Council has approved the project each step of the way, he said.

But Morris said it is ultimately up to the current council members to decide what the next step will be.

“This is a lot of money,” he said. “It is their decision to make, and they have to look out for the entire future of the city.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Street Fight

Transportation officials say they will bill Cost Mesa for a costly redesign of the San Diego-Costa Mesa interchange if the city can’t come up with the funds for local roadwork on the project.

Source: Orange County Transportation Authority