Officials Warn Against Idling on Road Funds

With nearly half a billion dollars promised by Gov. Gray Davis for transit projects in the San Fernando Valley, anxious politicians have one mantra rattling their constituent-conscious brains: Spend it and spend it now.

In a penthouse conference room, with a bird’s-eye view of the traffic snarled on the Hollywood Freeway below, that message was oft repeated by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) to county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

The meeting Thursday at the Sheraton Universal Hotel touched on a gamut of transit woes in the Valley, but in fact no single politician or agency is solely responsible for solutions, speakers said.

And because Davis’ $5.2-billion Traffic Congestion Relief Plan is funded with general tax revenues, officials were quick to caution that the Valley’s share should be spent quickly before other priorities edge it out.

Hertzberg turned up the verbal heat on Caltrans, warning that he would rely on state auditors, the Little Hoover Commission, or state oversight officials to make sure projects were on a fast track.

Caltrans officials, however, tempered that spend-easy mind-set with the caveat that construction projects alone won’t solve congestion.

“It’s not just about building things, but also mobility,” Caltrans Director Jeff Morales said.

Fixes to the 101/405 interchange, for example, won’t address all the congestion along the Ventura Freeway. For true mobility along that route, east-west street flows and other transit options need to be addressed to help unclog the freeway.

With general funds paying for Davis’ congestion-relief program, fewer strings are attached, so projects will be fast-tracked through development and approval, Morales said.

Some Valley projects in Davis’ plan include:

* $145 million for an east-west busway along Chandler Boulevard, connecting North Hollywood to Warner Center. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority hopes to have that completed by 2003.

* $100 million for a north-south bus system in the northeast Valley.

* $50 million for carpool, or High Occupancy Vehicle, lanes on the Golden State Freeway from the Hollywood Freeway to the Antelope Valley Freeway.

In addition, officials noted a $25-million project for carpool, or HOV, lanes on the San Diego Freeway from Waterford Avenue to the Santa Monica Freeway that will have an effect in the Valley.

In addition, four other Valley projects in the Davis plan were approved last month by the California Transportation Commission, said Allen Lawrence, a commissioner who spoke at the summit.

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These four applications are now approved for actual spending:

* $90 million for carpool, or HOV, lanes on the northbound San Diego Freeway in Sepulveda Pass, from the Ventura Freeway to the Santa Monica Freeway. The project will cost about $336 million and will begin in February.

* $21 million for improvements to the 101/405 interchange. The total cost is projected at about $34 million and work should begin in the fall of 2001.

* $16 million for an advanced automated signal program for portions of Victory, Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards, and Devonshire Street. These 479 signals will improve street traffic flow in key Valley corridors.

* $3 million for a Ventura Freeway Corridor study from the Hollywood Freeway to the Moorpark Freeway. The total cost is $4.5 million.

The most challenging project, Morales said, will be adding the carpool lanes on the northbound San Diego Freeway from the Santa Monica Freeway to the Ventura Freeway. It will have to be built in phases and it may begin in five years.