O.C. Receives $24 Million for 3 Freeway, Rail Projects

Despite the mounting state budget deficit, the California Transportation Commission on Thursday granted $24 million for three Orange County projects, including long-sought funds to fix a bottleneck on the congested Riverside Freeway.

Orange County Transportation Authority officials had feared that recommended cuts in state funds for transportation projects would scuttle a new lane for the Riverside Freeway, rail improvements in Santa Ana and a widening of the San Diego Freeway in Irvine.

“We thought they would not be funded or only get partial funding,” said Cypress Councilman Tim Keenan, chairman of the OCTA board of directors. “These are not huge projects, but they are significant congestion-relief projects.”

The commission will provide OCTA $6 million to restore 3,000 feet of a westbound lane on the Riverside Freeway between Coal Canyon Road and the Riverside County line to eliminate merging problems from the carpool lanes, which end at the 91 Express Lanes.

OCTA has already spent $2 million on the project, the first of a number of improvements the authority wants to make since buying the controversial 91 Express Lanes in January.

The panel also earmarked $8 million to add a second set of tracks to almost two miles of the Metrolink rail line along Lincoln Avenue between the Orange and Santa Ana train stations.

Finally, OCTA will receive $10 million to add a southbound lane on the San Diego Freeway between MacArthur Boulevard and Culver Drive in Irvine to relieve a chokepoint.