Gov.’s Plan Targets Southland Traffic Hot Spots

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently proposed spending $107 billion over the next decade on transportation, including issuing $5.6 billion in bonds for certain freeway and highway projects.

Among the projects listed in his funding plan: adding a northbound carpool lane to the 405 Freeway between the 10 and the 101 freeways; improving the Carmenita Road interchange along the 5 Freeway near Norwalk; widening the 58 Expressway between Kramer Junction and Barstow in San Bernardino County, and expanding the 91 Freeway in Orange County.

Question: Why did Schwarzenegger single out these freeways over others in the region?

Answer: The governor picked the projects he believed would do the most to relieve congestion, said Will Kempton, director of the California Department of Transportation.

California motorists are delayed a cumulative 580,000 hours a day because of congestion, Kempton said. If nothing is done, commuters 10 years from now will experience 750,000 hours of delays. Under the governor’s plan, delays would drop to 454,000 daily hours -- a 22% reduction from the current level -- over 10 years, he said.

But some transportation experts are skeptical. They predict that the projects already in the pipeline won’t make much of a dent in traffic because people will have incentives to drive more, which would just clog the roadways again, and ultimately the widened freeways would not be able to keep up with population growth.

Q: Do regional planners and transportation agencies agree with the governor’s plan?

A: It depends on the county. Orange County is thrilled with Schwarzenegger’s $320-million recommendation for the congested 91 Freeway.

“The 91 Freeway is Orange County’s top freeway priority,” said Ted Nguyen, spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority.

In Los Angeles County, however, the reaction has been mixed. The governor’s proposals are among the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s high-priority projects. But his plan does not provide special funds for other improvements -- such as mass transit -- that the MTA also considers vital for the region.

The MTA very much wants to widen a stretch of the 5 Freeway, from the Orange County line to the 605 Freeway. The governor’s plan would help fund just a portion of that project, at the Carmenita interchange.

Under Schwarzenegger’s plan, which is subject to approval by the Legislature, the California Transportation Commission ultimately would have the power to decide which projects to fund. The MTA is balking because officials say local agencies should get to make those decisions.

Q: Who normally gets to decide which freeway projects get built?

A: Generally speaking, Caltrans makes all decisions regarding highway maintenance, repairs and safety. Decisions on whether to add roadway capacity are mostly made by local agencies, such as the MTA, with input from Caltrans.

“We hold the purse strings, in the main,” said David Yale, director of regional programming for the MTA, which controls about 90% of L.A. County’s transportation dollars.

Before a project becomes eligible for funding, it must first make it onto a county’s long-range transportation plan, which typically spans 20 to 25 years.

To decide which projects should be included in such a plan, officials consider many factors. The MTA, for example, examines how much a project would improve mobility, reduce pollution, save commuters time and provide access to jobs.

Counties often have radically different views about what kind of projects should be funded. Orange County has earmarked most of its transportation dollars for freeways and roads. L.A. County, where the population is more dense, spends the bulk of its funds on building and operating a mass transit network.

Once a project makes it onto a region’s long-range plan, it then must compete against others for funding.

For freeway projects, MTA planners consider criteria such as how well the project fits into the region’s existing transportation network, how costly it is and how close it is to being ready for construction.

Q: Where does the funding come from and what role do politics play?

A: Most major transportation projects are funded through a mix of local, state and federal dollars. But a proposal -- no matter how worthy -- goes nowhere without funding. That’s where politics come into play.

Take the case of the 405 carpool lane, which last year received a $130-million federal earmark, thanks to U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village), whose district includes a portion of the project. The carpool lane was already among the region’s top transportation priorities, but the additional funding means the construction can begin sooner.

Sometimes political patronage can push a languishing project closer to the top of the list. The MTA, for example, once considered a 24-mile extension of the Metro Gold Line light rail into Claremont among its lowest priorities because of the line’s high cost and projected low ridership. But Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) gave the extension new life with a $21-million earmark through the same legislation that contained funding for the 405 carpool lane. The money will now jump-start construction of the extension, which will run through Dreier’s district.