The chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority board argued in favor of the toll road option for the I-405 project in a letter to six Orange County cities.
He also promised that their concerns would be “captured and acknowledged” when staff presented the board with final recommendations for the project.
The mayors of six cities, including Seal Beach, on the 405 corridor recently sent a letter to the OCTA that said they preferred Alternative 2 for the project. Alternative 2 would add two general-purpose lanes in each direction.
Seal Beach concerns
Glaab specifically addressed Seal Beach residents’ concerns that the soundwall near College Park East might have to be moved.
He said the soundwall would have to be moved along Almond Avenue under Alternative 2, but that might not be necessary under Alternative 3’s toll road option.
“Please rest assured that your comments related to tolling will be properly captured and acknowledged when the staff presents the final recommendation to the board,” Glaab said.
Arguments for toll road
All six mayors opposed Alternative 3, wich would add a toll lane to the freeway in addition to the general purpose lanes. So far, the general public has also expressed opposition to the toll road option.
“Your letter indicates you view Alt 2 and having fewer rightof-way impacts than Alt 3,” wrote Paul Glaab, chairman of the OCTA board, in an Aug. 21 letter to the six mayors.
“In reality, the right-ofway-footprint for Alt 2 and 3 is very similar,” Glaab said.
As an example, he said Alternative 2 would require the county to acquire part of 15 residential properties, while Alternative 3 would require 14 acquisitions.
“The underlying concept behind Alt 3 is to use congestion management pricing to keep the lanes operating at reliable, free-flow speeds for both single-occupant drivers and higher-occupancy vehicles,” Glaab said.
“Your letter states that Alt 3 burdens a large segment of the population to obtain transponders,” Glaab said.
He said installing transponders was a common practice in Orange County. Citing the 91 Express lanes as an example, he said 950,000 transponders have already been issued in Orange County. “Express lanes are becoming more and more prevealent as a means to manage congestion in busy corridors,” Glaab said.
According to Glaab, Alternative 2 would cost $1.4 billion; Alternative 3 would cost $1.7. “The difference in funding over the $1.3 billion baseline (Measure 2) projected would be generated by user fees/tolss from those who choose to use the express lanes,” Glaab said.
At the conclusion of his letter, OCTA Chairman Glaab said staff was preparing a list of options for using the toll road money in the event the board chooses the toll road option.
The final decision will be made when the board chooses a preferred option for the freeway projecdt on Sept. 24.
To make a comment on this story at the Sun Newspapers’ Web site, go to www.sunnews.org.
