Move of the 57 to coast looms
Dave Brooks
Opponents of a controversial plan to extend the Orange (57) Freeway
to Pacific Coast Highway were dealt a symbolic blow last week when a
transportation committee recommended further study of the proposal.
In a 4-3 vote, the group recommended the Orange County
Transportation Authority not kill a proposal to extend the 57 Freeway
past the “Orange Crush” interchange, connect it with the 405 Freeway
and then take it down the Santa Ana River to the coast. The
transportation authority’s board of directors will decide at its
April 25 meeting whether to include the proposal in a $1-million
engineering study of future transportation projects.
Board member and Huntington Beach Mayor Cathy Green voted against
the proposal, arguing that the transportation authority should simply
eliminate the extension once and for all.
“We really need to just kill this thing,” she said after the
meeting. “It isn’t going anywhere, just like it never has.”
Approval of the freeway extension would still be years away. The
plan has to go through two more public hearings before the board even
agrees to study the proposal.
Former assemblywoman and board member Marilyn Brewer said the
extension is riddled with so many engineering and environmental flaws
that allocating more money to study the plan is a waste.
“We’re going to be spending $1 million of badly needed taxpayer
money,” she said
Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell disagreed, arguing that
every thoroughfare running north to south from Beach Boulevard to
Main Street in Santa Ana faces traffic levels well above normal
capacity. Harbor Boulevard and Brookhurst Street, for example,
usually carry 50% more than what they were designed for.
“We’ve got a mobility problem, folks, and it’s in huge numbers,”
Campbell said. “I’d like to help the people in these cities, too.”
The impact on traffic remains unclear, but transportation
authority executive director of planning Paul Taylor said initial
studies indicate that only a fraction of commuters would use the
portion of the proposed 57 Freeway that would run from the 405
interchange to Pacific Coast Highway.
Securing permission to build in the river would also be difficult.
The Army Corps of Engineers and the Orange County Flood Control
Agency control the river’s right-of-way. Getting either agency to
sign on to a proposal to extend the 57 Freeway down the river would
be tantamount to a miracle, Green said.
“They won’t even let us a remove a tree, let alone build a
freeway,” she said.
Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan said the public should reserve
its criticisms of the project until after the study is completed.
“Whatever we build is going to take an awfully long time,” he
said. “It very well might not be feasible, but unless we do those
technical analyses, we’re not going to know.”
The March 31 vote comes as transportation authority employees
prepare to lobby for an extension of Measure M, a half-cent sales tax
passed by voters in 1990 to fund $2.3 billion worth of transportation
projects including the widening of the Garden Grove (22) Freeway.
Measure M is expected to expire in 2011, and it could take several
attempts to secure the necessary two-thirds voter approval to pass.
It took the transportation officials three tries to pass the
initiative 15 years ago.
Correa said a renewal of Measure M will not pass if voters think
the money will be spent to extend the 57 Freeway. An independent
survey taken by private consultant Jennifer Franz found that 53% of
registered voters in Orange County approved extending the freeway
when presented with arguments for and against the project.
“People seem to be somewhat ambivalent about this,” she said.
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