Road Work Bottlenecked by Funding

Orange County Transportation Authority board members said Monday that they want to give Costa Mesa more time to come up with about $7 million the city needs to complete funding of its part of an ambitious effort to untangle the San Diego-Costa Mesa freeway interchange.

Transit officials had given the city an April deadline to commit to local improvement plans included in the $107-million project or face paying for a redesign of the plans at an estimated tab of $500,000 to $800,000.

But board members, who called the project one of the most significant for congestion relief in the county, said taking a hard line isn’t worth pursuing if it means the key local portion of the project goes unbuilt.

“We need to do everything in our power to accommodate Costa Mesa,” said Supervisor Todd Spitzer, a board member. “If we rush this project, then we potentially jeopardize a true congestion-relieving project in a corridor that’s a problem for everyone who travels it.”

Transit officials had called on the city to make good on promises to be ready to go forward with the work this year. But the city has struggled to set aside the entire $20 million it needs to add an offramp at Avenue of the Arts, an onramp at Anton Avenue and an elevated offramp at Bristol Street--work that will make the area safer and relieve traffic congestion.

With only $13 million available in grants and savings, the city is behind schedule for pulling together funding.

That’s a problem for the agency, because the local portion of the work was designed in tandem with a $48-million carpool lane connector, which was scheduled to be put out to bid in the next month or so.