County Looks Next-Door for Freeway Funds

ANAHEIM HILLS —  County transportation officials suggested Thursday that Riverside County loan Orange County money to speed the widening of highly congested Riverside Freeway that links the two counties.

The “advance of funds” was proposed at a luncheon meeting Thursday in Anaheim Hills attended by several members of both counties’ transportation commissions and their staffs, according to Tom Fortune, spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Commission.

“Riverside County officials said they would check back with their local communities for reaction to the idea,” Fortune said.

Thursday’s huddle followed voter rejection of Measure M, a proposed half-cent transportation sales tax in Orange County. Defeated 52.6% to 47.4%, Measure M would have raised an estimated $3.1 billion for transportation projects over the next 20 years.

Riverside County already has a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects and is eager to proceed with the widening program. But traffic engineers say terminating the new lanes at the county border would produce a traffic nightmare.

About 210,000 vehicles use the Riverside Freeway daily, according to OCTC, and thousands of Riverside County commuters use it daily to reach jobs in Orange County.

Riverside County is planning to add lanes to the freeway on its side of the border, and the proposed loan--referred to as an “advance” against future state funding expected for projects in Orange County--would allow the Orange County portion of the freeway-widening to proceed at the same time, Fortune said.

The Orange County portion of the Riverside Freeway project was to have been financed in part by proceeds from Measure M. Plans call for adding a car-pool lane in each direction, with Orange County paying about $50 million for the stretch from the Orange Freeway to the Riverside County line.

Fortune said that Orange County officials believe they can get at least some of the needed money in the next five-year State Transportation Improvement Program but that the state funds probably would not be delivered until the fifth year.

OCTC Executive Director Stanley T. Oftelie suggested that an advance of funds from Riverside County would enable both counties to proceed at the same time, Fortune said.

Oftelie and Riverside County officials could not be reached for comment after the meeting.

But former Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, a member of the California Transportation Commission, said of the idea: “It’s a good proposition from Orange County’s side, but one of two things would have to happen, I think, to make it viable. Either the proposed state gasoline tax increase has to pass in June, or we (Orange County voters) have to approve the half-cent sales tax here.”

If both fail, there will be no state funding available, he said.