Budget Crisis Sends Sound Wall Projects Tumbling

The state budget crisis hit home Thursday for freeway neighbors in San Bernardino County after the California Transportation Commission voted to divert money from four sound-wall projects to help pay for a freeway widening in Redlands.

The vote by the commission, meeting in Santa Ana, is the latest example of belt tightening by state transportation officials since Gov. Gray Davis announced in December plans to cut nearly $1.8 billion in transportation funding to close a coming budget gap that has now grown to about $38 billion.

The crisis has forced local officials to whittle down their transportation wish-lists to include only their highest priorities. At the request of San Bernardino County officials, the state panel diverted nearly $10 million that had been set aside for sound walls in San Bernardino, Ontario and Chino to help fund a $28-million project to add a fourth lane in each direction on the San Bernardino Freeway in Redlands. The project is expected to fix a 2.5-mile bottleneck east of Orange Street.