More than 50 people gathered in the Community Room at the Civic Center Wednesday night to learn more about the proposed toll lanes on the 405.
Speak Up Newport’s monthly meeting tackled the controversial issue with Caltrans District Director Ryan Chamberlain and Orange County Business Council Vice President Bryan Starr speaking in support of the idea and Westminster Councilwoman Diana Carey and Seal Beach Councilman Gary Miller, both representing the corridor cities, opposed to it.
The group discussed the three options: Alternative one adds one general purpose lane in each direction between Euclid Street to the 605; Alternative two adds two general purpose lanes in each direction from Euclid to 605; Alternative three proposes to add one general purpose lane in each direction and one high occupancy toll lane in each direction between the 73 and 605.
Caltrans supports alternative three. It will send more cars through per hour during rush time and shorten travel time, Chamberlain argued.
“I can think of whole lot better ways to spend my time than sitting in traffic for two hours,” Chamberlain said.
The purpose of the toll lanes is to improve travel conditions for work, recreation, school and commerce, Chamberlain said.
The council also supports alternative three, Starr said. Their focus Is infrastructure, he added.
“We feel it is critically important that the maximum throughput be approved and, in our view, alternative three has proven to be the maximum throughput,” Starr noted.
Alternative three will mean spending $1.3 billion and have the exact same number of free lanes that are there today, Carey argued.
The toll lanes would mean more congested general purpose lanes, she said, and more traffic cutting through communities.
“We want to be productive,” Carey said. “We want the most bang for our buck.”
Their proposal is to add another HOV lane that’s free and a regular lane as well, she said.
On the 13-mile stretch being studied there are 17 bridges that need to be rebuilt, Carey said.
To add one lane in each direction will cost $1.3 billion and to add the additional toll lane would be another $400 million, Carey said, because they would have to reconstruct all the bridges.
“Do we have traffic? Absolutely we do,” Chamberlain said. “What are we doing about it?”
Traffic volumes are expected to increase significantly as population increases, Chamberlain said.
Conditions will only get worse in 30 years, Chamberlain said.
“That’s the reality of it,” he said.
How can it become more efficient with what is already in place? Chamberlain asked. That dialog needs to start now, he said.
People do need to start looking at transportation differently, Carey agreed. The millennial generation want high density living with the ability to walk and bike places, she said.
“I don’t think our freeways should be free market,” Carey said. “It shouldn’t be that you get to go faster and have a trip only 15 minutes because you can afford it. We’re all paying for it.”
“We should all do things that are appropriate that will move things the best for all of us, not just for a few,” Carey said.
Caltrans is working with Orange County Transportation Authority on the issue.
“We need to, as advocates for Orange County, really move to getting support and assurances,” Starr said.
There are four policies they want to focus on that are “critically important“: Local control and using the toll revenue in Orange County, construction operation and that OCTA could do a better job operating the toll lanes, keeping the carpool lanes, and continual access and close coordination between OCTA and Caltrans.
“Frankly, we need those assurances to make this project viable in Orange County,” Starr said.
The second part of this presentation will be about refinancing the 73 toll road. The meeting will be held on Jan. 14 at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Room at the Civic Center.
