Bill Would Aid Toll Lane Purchase

An Anaheim assemblyman announced Monday that he will carry legislation to help Orange County’s transportation agency buy the 91 Express Lanes--a privately owned tollway whose franchise agreement with the state has blocked major improvements to the congested Riverside Freeway.

Meanwhile, the Transportation Authority’s board of directors unanimously approved adding express bus service along the Riverside Freeway to provide Inland Empire commuters an alternative to their cars during rush hour. The buses are expected to connect downtown Riverside and Corona to Costa Mesa and Irvine and serve as many as 325 riders a day to start.

Both the bill and the bus service are part of ongoing efforts by OCTA and Riverside County transportation officials to relieve congestion on one of the busiest freeways in Southern California. On an average workday, motorists make about 250,000 trips on the main route connecting the Inland Empire with Orange County.

If approved, the bill by Assembly Democrat Lou Correa will grant OCTA the power to collect tolls after acquiring the Express Lanes--a critical step for completing purchase of the controversial tollway.

This year, OCTA offered $207.5 million for the lanes, which were built for about $135 million in the mid-1990s. The tollway, owned by California Private Transportation Co., runs for 10 miles in the median of the Riverside Freeway from northern Anaheim to the Riverside County line.

If the sale goes through, OCTA plans to continue toll operations until the lanes’ construction debt is paid off. Agency officials, however, want to lift a troublesome non-compete agreement with Caltrans that has prevented widening the Riverside Freeway.

“The bill should preserve the lifeline for the economies of both Riverside and Orange counties,” said Correa, who said he plans to introduce the bill this week. “Clearly, the 91 experiment has been a disaster.”

In addition to providing toll collection authority, the bill would create an advisory committee comprising five OCTA board members and five board members from the Riverside County Transportation Commission. The panel would include three nonvoting members--a representative from San Bernardino County and two from Caltrans.

The committee would be responsible for making recommendations to OCTA about tollway operations and improvements to the Riverside Freeway in the area served by the 91 Express Lanes.

“The bill is a significant step,” said Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster, a longtime critic of the tollway. “This really gets us closer to the end we are seeking.”

Although the legislative session ends Aug. 30, elected officials in Riverside and Orange counties said they are confident the measure will pass in time to let the deal go through.

Correa is from the majority party in the Legislature, they said, and significant groundwork already has been done on the bill’s wording to satisfy politicians on the state and local levels.

The measure has been given urgency status, meaning that it must pass by a two-thirds vote. If approved, it will go into effect immediately as long as Gov. Gray Davis signs it.

He has 30 days after it leaves the Legislature to do so.

“We have been working for months behind the scenes to deal with a variety of players that are critical to the bill,” said Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who chairs the OCTA board. “We have had to overcome a lot of sentiment against toll roads. We have tried to work out all the kinks.”

The owners of the Express Lanes, Spitzer said, have made it clear that the deal is not on the table indefinitely, and that the price could rise if the sale is not closed by the end of the year.

Though optimistic about the bill, Correa said there have been some questions in the Legislature about how the $207.5 million sales price was set--$72 million of which will go directly to the Express Lanes owner as profit.

A spokesman for state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Garden Grove) said Dunn continues to have concerns about the accuracy of OCTA’s valuation of the lanes and the financing of the sale. Dunn, he said, hopes to discuss the issues with OCTA.

Bus service along the troubled route will start in January with 14 buses on two routes. Service will originate at the Galleria at Tyler in Riverside and the Crossroads Church in Corona. Final destinations will be 15 stops near South Coast Plaza, the Irvine Business Complex and UC Irvine.

Buses will be available every 20 minutes, and the average run will last 70 minutes. From 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. the buses will run from Riverside County to Orange County. The routes will reverse from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The fare is $4 each way, 50 cents cheaper per day than the Express Lanes.

If the initial service works well, OCTA officials would like to phase in two more express routes that would go from Riverside County to Disneyland and business centers in northern Anaheim.

OCTA estimates that the first two routes will serve about 325 riders a day and roughly 650 commuters if the other routes are added. Operating all four lines will cost OCTA and the Riverside County Transportation Commission slightly more than $2 million, with OCTA assuming 60% of the expense.