November 12, 2009
Breaking the Gridlock with New SR 91 Project
We've all seen traffic on the eastbound 91 Freeway slow to a crawl for those
heading home toward Riverside after a hard day's work in Orange County. The
six mile stretch from the 241 Toll Road in Anaheim Hills to the 71 Freeway
in Corona has become one of the region's most notorious traffic choke
points, with more than 300,000 cars and trucks traveling it weekly. To make
matters worse, that traffic load, according to Joel Zlotnik of the Orange
County Transportation Authority (OCTA), is expected to increase to 425,000
trips a day by 2030. So, the last thing an eastbound commuter wants at the
end of the day is to get caught-up in a tangle of brake lights.
All of that will soon change. California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans), OCTA and the Riverside County Transportation Commission
(RCTC)officials held a groundbreaking ceremony on November 3
rd to kick-off a $47.9 million freeway improvement project that will add an
additional lane that promises to relieve congestion on that troubled section
of the eastbound 91. The project is funded with $47.9 million under the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Riverside and Orange
Counties contributed $5 million and $6.6 million, respectively, and Orange
County's share came from tolls on the 91 Express Lanes.
According to Caltrans estimates, the new lane scheduled to open by this time
next year will save commuters 15 minutes - making a positive impact on the
daily lives of so many. And, there's more good news. The RCTC plans to
extend the toll lanes in each direction from where they end, just east of
the 241, to Pierce Street in Riverside, and add one freeway lane in each
direction between the 15 and 71 Freeways. Similarly, OCTA hopes to add a
westbound lane to the 91 Freeway, between the 57 and I-5 Freeways, and add a
lane in both directions to the 91 Freeway, between the 55 Freeway and the
241 toll road.
We have President Dwight D. Eisenhower to thank for the creation of our
interstate highway system - a priority of his administration called his
"Grand Plan." In 1956, he signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, also known as
the National Highway Defense System (NHDS) - referred to as one of the
"Seven Wonders of the United States," along with the Golden Gate Bridge, the
Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal. "More than any single action by the
government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of
America," Eisenhower later wrote in 1963. "Its impact on the American
economy - the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the
rural areas it would open up - was beyond calculation."
This six-mile stretch of freeway can hardly compare with Eisenhower's
vision, it is nevertheless a valuable transportation corridor for hundreds
of thousands of commercial and freight trucks serving regional and national
markets as they arrive inland from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
And, as the largest Orange County transportation project to get funding from
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, it is expected to
provide approximately 900 jobs, including construction shifts and indirect
employment to suppliers.
My Anaheim City Council colleagues and I have taken a leadership position in
addressing transportation needs through the development of the following
innovative projects: Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center
(ARTIC) project; Anaheim Fixed-Guideway system (linking ARTIC to the
Platinum Triangle and the Anaheim Resort Area); and the California High
Speed Rail Authority to provide a high-speed train (HST) connection between
Southern and Northern California of which ARTIC will be the southern
terminus of the Los Angeles-Anaheim segment.
As an elected official, I will continue to support vital infrastructure
projects and urge that every dollar collected from taxes on gasoline or auto
sales go directly back into construction of more freeway lanes, more roads,
and more public transportation alternatives.
