O.C. to Widen Part of the 405, but Not for a Decade

County transportation leaders agreed Friday to widen a congested 13-mile stretch of the San Diego Freeway -- easing the fears of residents who worried that a more aggressive expansion could have cost them their homes.

But some regional planners said the decision to go with a modest widening effort -- a $500-million job that would add a lane in each direction from Costa Mesa to Seal Beach -- would ultimately not do enough to untangle traffic.

It’s also an improvement that’s at least a decade down the road and still unfunded.

The unanimous decision by the Orange County Transportation Authority Board would increase capacity on the freeway between the 605 Freeway in Seal Beach and the 73 in Costa Mesa.

The board’s action would minimize the use of eminent domain to remove homes in Westminster, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley. The more ambitious widening would have eliminated 87 homes; the one selected would take 11, five in Westminster and six in Huntington Beach.

For such homeowners as Diana Carey, a retired high school principal, Friday’s decision was heartening. “This is a great day, a really great victory,” said Carey, who had rallied her Westminster neighbors into a political force to fight the bigger widening plan.

The decision also reduces the scope and cost of the project. The more ambitious alternative would have added two lanes in each direction, additional carpool lanes and room in the median for bus rapid transit stations, all at a cost of $1.5 billion.

It would have increased freeway speeds at peak hours in the same corridor by 7 mph, in contrast to 5 mph for the less aggressive proposal, OCTA officials said.

Some traffic experts predicted the selected expansion plan would have limited benefits.

“We’re reaching capacity on all major freeways. And the 405 is one of the most congested,” said Hasan Ikhrata, director of planning and policy at the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

“I can tell you that adding a lane in both directions is a good addition, of course, but in the long run, it would hardly be enough,” he said.

About 395,000 drivers travel the 405 each day through the corridor proposed for widening. That figure is expected to grow to 490,000 by 2025, according to the OCTA.

Although the homeowners who had banded together to fight the larger expansion plan were satisfied Friday, a few residents were hardly smiling.

Etta Eddy, who lives on Abraham Avenue in Westminster, near a cul-de-sac that abuts the freeway sound wall, told the board she is worried about her home, which is not now targeted for removal.

Eddy said OCTA planners have said they may need more property to expand the Springdale Street offramp to the San Diego Freeway near her home.

“I don’t know which homes are going to be taken, and I want to know how close that wall is going to be when this is done,” Eddy said.

Board Chairman Bill Campbell doubted whether OCTA staff had an answer for Eddy. No studies have accurately mapped the various widening options, he said.

“We can expect a lot of changes because of the funding uncertainty between now and then,” Campbell said.

Foremost is whether Measure M, the half-cent sales tax approved by Orange County voters in 1990 to fund major traffic improvements, will be renewed before it expires in 2011.

While residents and Westminster council members said that a freeway-widening project that claimed dozens of homes would devastate the city’s quality of life and reduce property tax revenue, that message changed after it became apparent the OCTA board was going to approve the least invasive proposal.

“Once this is passed,” said Mayor Margie L. Rice, “I’ll work for Measure M.”