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OCTA vote upholds no-toll widening for 405 Freeway

Motorists travel on the 405 Freeway through Costa Mesa last year.
Motorists travel on the 405 Freeway through Costa Mesa last year.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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<i>This post has been corrected, as noted below</i>

The Orange County Transportation Authority board of directors voted Monday to move forward with a project to widen the 405 Freeway with additional general-purpose traffic lanes between the 605 Freeway and Costa Mesa.

The decision reaffirmed a December vote to add one general-purpose lane in each direction without toll lanes the California Department of Transportation wants. Caltrans in July announced a plan to replace the carpool lane in each direction with a toll option. That plan also would add a general-purpose lane in each direction. The toll-lane idea has met with opposition from many city leaders and residents along the 14-mile stretch of the freeway.

Monday’s 11-4 decision came after about two hours of debate. Board members Gary Miller, John Moorlach, Todd Spitzer and Tom Tait dissented. Two members were absent.

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The project approved by the OCTA would leave enough space for an additional carpool or toll lane in the future. Some board members wanted to add two lanes to each side, excluding the possibility of toll lanes.

Others said they had no choice in the matter. The 405 Freeway, one of the nation’s busiest highways, is managed by Caltrans, the state agency responsible for highway planning, construction and maintenance.

“They’re not our roads,” OCTA Chairman Shawn Nelson said. “It’s our legal duty to build one lane in each direction.”

Spitzer said the board’s vote “means that we’ll widen the freeway to a sufficient width so we can add toll lanes. I support the widening because I support the one lane in each direction, but not the toll lanes.”

The added general-purpose lanes would be part of the county’s $1.3 billion plan to widen the 405. Caltrans has estimated its toll lane proposal would cost $400 million.

“Shame on Caltrans for tolling. This has turned sour like someone did something to our punch,” Moorlach said. “To throw this toll in the middle of a project seems unjust. I think Caltrans can do a little better of a job working with this organization.”

But Moorlach said his dissenting vote had more to do with cost efficiency than blocking toll lanes.

“Why widen … to accommodate four lanes and only build two?” he said. “I just think it’s a misuse of taxpayer dollars. If the cement trucks are there, let’s get the job done.”

Caltrans touts toll lanes as a way to move vehicles faster. City leaders from Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach and Westminster say the project would disenfranchise those who cannot afford the tolls. Last month, leaders from the 405 Freeway Cities Coalition proposed building one general-purpose lane and one carpool lane in each direction. OCTA’s Regional Planning and Highways Committee rejected the proposal Sept. 15.

Toll lanes also would violate Measure M2, a half-cent sales tax initiative approved by voters in 2006 to fund countywide transportation projects, said Westminster Councilwoman Diana Carey. OCTA says Measure M money would fund its 405 widening project.

“We did not vote to subsidize toll lane infrastructure, and we did not vote to subsidize Caltrans,” Carey said.

Caltrans District 12 Director Ryan Chamberlain has said that although the agency has not secured funding for its toll lane plan, it will not use Measure M money for it.

After the vote Monday, Spitzer called for the board to send Caltrans and Gov. Jerry Brown a formal resolution opposing the toll lane alternative.

“Some of us want to back up our words,” Spitzer said.

The board declined. Some members, while agreeing in theory, were wary of upsetting officials at the state agency.

“We have to talk nice. We have a lot of business to vote on with Caltrans,” Michael Hennessey said.

[For the record, 10:10 a..m. Sept. 23: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the OCTA vote was 14-4. The vote was 11-4 with 2 members absent.]

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