55 Freeway part of early plans for O.C. roadwork

Project would fight pollution, widen freeway; county voters must OK sales tax renewal first.A preliminary $11.8-billion transportation plan includes money to widen the Costa Mesa Freeway (55) and fight pollution from highway runoff.

While the plan doesn’t address the bottleneck at the freeway’s southern end in Costa Mesa, city officials haven’t lost hope of getting the freeway extended.

A committee of the Orange County Transportation Authority on Friday recommended the spending plan to the authority’s board, which will discuss it Jan. 9. It explains how the authority would use about $11.8 billion that would be generated over 30 years if Orange County voters approve a renewal of Measure M, an existing half-cent sales tax that has funded millions in road improvements but expires in 2011.

Public comment will be solicited on the plan through April, and it could appear on the November 2006 ballot for voter approval.

The transportation plan would provide $366 million to widen the 55 Freeway between the Garden Grove (22) and San Diego (405) freeways. The largest chunk, nearly $1.5 billion, would be spent on improving the Riverside Freeway (91). Other projects could include upgrades for the Santa Ana Freeway (5) and a program offering about $240 million in grants for runoff-reduction projects.

Costa Mesa officials said in April they’d like to see a fix for the 55 Freeway included in a new round of Measure M funding, and one option is an express lane tunnel under Newport Boulevard. The problem is the project hasn’t been defined.

“Not being in Measure M doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t proceed, but you have to have a project,” said Monte Ward, who is heading up the Measure M project for the transportation authority. “If I went in and talked to the businesses south of the 55 in Costa Mesa, I don’t think I would hear a consensus. I don’t think the city’s at a point where they can say, ‘This is what we want here.’ ”

Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder said officials were disappointed that no projects south of the 405 Freeway are included in the Measure M proposal, but he realizes no one has yet done the studies to find a feasible option and what it would cost.

“I don’t think that we would want to go to the voters and ask for something to be authorized if we couldn’t give them clear definition in terms of what it was, where it would go and what it would cost,” Roeder said.

He plans to push for the necessary studies and hopes the city can still get a fix for the southern terminus of the 55 Freeway into Measure M, though it may not be in the proposal that goes to voters.

If the sales tax measure is approved, it will last for 30 years and may bring in more money than projected. Roeder pointed to improvements now being made to the 22 Freeway, which weren’t included in the existing Measure M tax but are being funded by it because other projects came in under budget.

Roeder and Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff are pleased with the plan to devote money to environmental projects such as runoff reduction. Cities, the county, and water and sewer districts will be able to apply for the funds.

“To me the added twist that this Measure M money brings is that it recognizes there’s a link between urban runoff pollution and roads,” Kiff said. “Roads are the major transmitter of the runoff into the storm drain system.”

Trash thrown from cars, fluid leaks, and material from deteriorating brakes and tires get washed from roads into storm drains. Catch basins and specially designed wetlands and swales can help cut down on that pollution, Kiff said.

He’s not sure what projects the city might do with Measure M grant money, he said, but “I’m more interested in seeing other cities use this money, because I think Newport Beach contributes a lot to local solutions and regional solutions.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson @latimes.com.