Riverside Freeway Fix Comes at a High Cost

Re “Buying Toll Lanes Might Be the Way to Go,” Jan. 19:

Once again we see that government cannot provide a cost-effective solution. In this case the problem is increasing congestion on the Riverside Freeway due to growth in the Inland Empire.

The solution suggested by the Orange County Transportation Authority is to buy the tollway lanes so that OCTA can increase freeway capacity without having to make periodic payments to the current owners of these lanes.

The Times reports, “There has been speculation that the lanes are worth $200 million to $300 million. They were built for $135 million.” Thus, if OCTA buys the lanes, taxpayers will pay $65 million to $165 million more than necessary.

As long as government officials are spending our money rather than their own, they have no incentive to spend efficiently. By the way, we read in the first paragraph of the article, “After paying $4 million in public funds ... for the right to widen the traffic-clogged Riverside Freeway, OCTA leaders now say they must buy the tollway or risk being nickeled and dimed for years to come.”

If making periodic payments of $4million is only being nickeled and dimed, I’m sure OCTA would be willing to make periodic payments of $4million to me. After all, it’s not coming out of their pockets.

Rod Freed

Mission Viejo

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So Orange County wants to hand the Express Lane owners $4million to extend a lane to the Coal Canyon Road exit. This is an interesting exit to spend money to extend because it is a rarely used offramp, especially in the morning. The exit provides access to a few vacant parcels of land, a quarry and an alternate access to Santa Ana Canyon Road (which has little westbound traffic in the a.m.). Anyone who works in the Anaheim Hills or Yorba Linda area would exit at the earliest at Weir Canyon/Yorba Linda Boulevard.

The solution appears to be shortsighted and should prove to be ineffective. It will probably serve only to push the bottleneck 1,000 feet to the west.

Cindy Thomas

Corona

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Hindsight is 20/20. Now we can see that the tollway concept in Orange County was doomed from the start. Just like last year’s electricity scam, halfway privatization doesn’t work. Industry management has to be dogged about profits; if not, they’re being irresponsible.

But private interest and public interest often collide. And when they do, the public picks up the tab. Along the 91, we pay to correct unsafe alignments that the toll lanes themselves create. The San Joaquin Hills and Eastern corridors have never provided the general relief touted by the Transportation Corridor Agencies. The tollways are money losers and always will be as long as freeways provide alternatives.

Soon we’ll have to bribe TCA to correct problems on the Santa Ana Freeway. Transportation planning is a public process. Cash out these would-be road moguls while we still can; they have far too much power over issues of public safety and commerce.

Pete van Nuys

San Clemente