Green Light for 4 Possibilities to Ease the 91

Transportation officials identified four possible alternatives Friday for easing traffic between Orange and Riverside counties, including boring a tunnel through the Santa Ana Mountains.

The policy-making committee of elected officials from Riverside and Orange counties also voted to continue studying three other alternatives: widening the Riverside Freeway, overhauling Ortega Highway in south Orange County and building two elevated highways adjacent to the Riverside Freeway.

But the panelists eliminated a second tunnel option as a way to relieve congestion on the Riverside Freeway. The proposed 20-mile corridor of tunnels and roads would have passed through the Cleveland National Forest.

The panel of 10 voting members was established in April 2004 to solve one of Southern California’s most vexing transportation problems: how to improve mobility between Riverside and Orange counties.

Workers who drive to Orange County from their homes in the Inland Empire regularly endure long commutes on the Riverside Freeway, the only major road through the Santa Ana Mountains.

Today, the freeway handles about 250,000 vehicle trips a day, a number that is expected to nearly double by 2025 if nothing is done.

The canceled route -- favored by many residents of southern Riverside County -- would have been built from Nichols Road in Lake Elsinore to the Foothill Eastern toll road at California 133 in Irvine. Planners envisioned a long tunnel or a series of roads and smaller tunnels through the forest.

Committee members said the corridor would be more expensive and carry significantly less traffic than the other tunnel proposal, which would run 14 1/2 miles from Cajalco Road in Riverside County to California 133 in Irvine. The route also was considered more environmentally disruptive.

Preliminary studies indicate that the 20-mile route would attract 60,000 vehicle trips a day if tolls were not charged and 35,000 with tolls. The other tunnel option would handle 105,000 trips a day without tolls and 65,000 with tolls.

“The Cajalco route will carry more traffic and relieve congestion on the 91. The other just adds complications,” said Frank Hall, a member of the Riverside County Transportation Commission.

Panelists voted to continue their studies of the Cajalco tunnel, widenings of the Riverside Freeway, an overhaul of Ortega Highway in south Orange County, and two elevated highways which would pass over or run next to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. rail line north of the Riverside Freeway.

The committee will further evaluate additional transit services -- such as buses and the Metrolink commuter rail line -- through the Santa Ana Canyon.

Committee members want to recommend a final plan in December.

H. Tony Rahimian, an engineering consultant who is coordinating the studies, said the Riverside Freeway could accommodate about 310,000 vehicles trips a day if it were widened between the Costa Mesa Freeway and Interstate 15.

The rest of the expected growth in traffic, planners say, could be handled by a new corridor and improvements to Ortega Highway, a two-lane road east of San Juan Capistrano that has become one of the state’s most dangerous roads.

Preliminary plans for the elevated highways call for four or six lanes. The six-lane option passes over the railroad right of way and requires Burlington Northern’s approval, something that has not been granted.

There are two configurations for the Cajalco tunnel: two tunnels of two lanes each; or three tunnels of two lanes each with one set of reversible lanes. It would be the longest highway tunnel in the United States.