Everybody’s Highway

Representatives from California and other Western states in the same room without the boxing gloves coming out? It has happened a handful of times in recent months on two important regional issues: power and transportation. This is all to the good and will give Western states a bigger voice in Congress if the state-level cooperation filters upward.

Other Western states, less populated and more conservative, always have had trouble dealing with California. Even within California, “it’s always a family feud,” said Steven P. Erie, a professor of political science at UC San Diego. “The region has to overcome this fragmentation of interests” to solve common problems, Erie said.

Eighteen states from the nation’s western half, including California, Texas and Washington, agreed in late June to set aside the usual differences between energy producers and users to develop 30,000 megawatts of clean energy by 2015, as well as to cooperate on badly needed electric transmission line improvements.

Public works officials from California, Oregon and Washington also are coming together over Interstate 5, the troubled transportation corridor that serves as the backbone for the economy of the Western U.S. As Times staff writer Dan Weikel reported Monday, the increasing traffic bottlenecks along the 1,381-mile highway no longer can be viewed as local problems because they quickly lead to regional economic pain.

When state inspectors closed a highway bridge over the Umpqua River in Oregon in 2001 for urgent repairs, the resulting detours by 2,000 big rigs a day pushed up the cost of shipping lumber, produce, fuel and even Red Cross blood by as much as $200 per truck.

Delays and extreme congestion plague the worn-out highway, which crosses three states and links the United States with Mexico and Canada, yet no joint construction and maintenance plan exists.

The fledgling West Coast Corridor Coalition still has no budget, and it faces competition for federal funds from older transportation corridor groups. At least with a neutral forum to share mutual concerns, the needed plan has begun to take shape.

If the newfound spirit of cooperation on transportation and energy produces results, there are plenty of other issues begging for regional attention. From dealing with illegal immigration to protecting the environment and public lands, a common front would cross political boundaries and pry loose federal dollars that otherwise go to states with a longer history of linking arms.