Arterial Bypass Operation on the 91

An elevated, six-lane expressway incorporating a high-speed rail line was among a dozen suggestions to ease Riverside Freeway congestion that were presented Friday to regional transportation officials.

The ideas -- including a tunnel through the Santa Ana Mountains -- are part of an effort by the Orange County Transportation Authority and the Riverside County Transportation Commission to relieve traffic on one of the state’s most congested corridors.

“There isn’t one answer to this transportation question. We’re going to have to use pieces of all of the ideas,” said Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell, who will chair a joint two-county committee. “We’re trying to figure out the quickest route, weighing the geology issues and also what is the best from an environmental and human point of view.”

Friday’s presentation in Santa Ana is part of an 18-month, $3.3-million study that will look at new routes and mass transit options to take pressure off the freeway, the only major artery connecting the two counties.

The most ambitious proposal is a tunnel-freeway corridor that would connect an area near the Eastern and Foothill tollways in Irvine east to Cajalco Road on Interstate 15 in Corona. Another suggestion calls for the tunnel solely for rail service along the same route.

Officials hope to cut the list of ideas to five by summer and vote on one in December. Their decision is expected to help handle transportation needs in the region through 2030.

Cost estimates for construction and purchase of rights of way will not be done until the list of proposals is narrowed, said project manager Tony Rahimian.

Michael Duvall, an OCTA director and Yorba Linda councilman, said he would like to see those cost estimates sooner -- especially for a project as massive as the proposed expressway over a railroad line north of the freeway.

“If we’re talking about double-decking along the 91, I want to know where those funds are coming from,” Duvall said, adding that it affects decisions whether to buy land now along the suggested routes.

Among the proposals, the tunnel has already met with criticism from environmentalists and some transportation officials.

Jeff Miller, a Corona councilman and Riverside transportation commissioner, said he has asked for technical information on how vehicle exhaust would be handled in a tunnel that could be 12 miles long.

“I’ve asked staff questions,” Miller said, “and they’re not telling me an answer on what to do with the exhaust. We’re talking about a tunnel where as many as 120,000 trips a day could be made.”