$3 BILLION SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS TOLL TUNNEL URGED.Byline: Harrison Sheppard Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - A study released Wednesday by the Reason Foundation recommended building more toll roads The following is a list of toll roads. Toll roads are roads on which a toll authority collects a fee for use. This list also contains toll bridges and toll tunnels. Lists of these subsets of toll roads can be found in List of toll bridges and List of toll tunnels. throughout California, including a $3 billion toll tunnel A toll tunnel is a special road tunnel whose construction and/or maintenance costs are in part recouped through a toll charged for passing through it. In some instances, tolls have been removed after retirement of the toll revenue bonds issued to raise funds for construction and/or through the San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Mountains, S Calif., E and NE of Los Angeles, running c.50 mi (80 km) westward from Cajon Pass. San Antonio Peak (10,080 ft/3,072 m) is the highest of the range. Citrus fruits are raised on the southern foothills. to cut travel times between Palmdale and Pasadena. The study by the Santa Monica-based libertarian think tank said such public-private partnerships, in which private investors help build and maintain roads in exchange for toll revenue, represent the future of traffic relief in the state's congested con·gest·ed adj. Affected with or characterized by congestion. congested ENT adjective Referring to a boggy blood-filled tissue. See Nasal congestion. urban areas. ``We think we've come up with a way to (reduce congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. ) in this report, and that is generating new revenue from tolls that people and trucking companies would willingly pay to use new improvements to the system that offer them better service,'' said the study's lead author, Robert Poole. To illustrate its point, the study examined the idea of a tunnel through the San Gabriel Mountains, which would cost an estimated $3 billion to build. Tolls would be in the $8 range for travel in each direction - with the price varying on time of day - that would help repay 83 percent of that cost, the researchers said. Travelers who normally use the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. would save about 51 minutes traveling between downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or and Palmdale during rush hour, or 63 minutes between Pasadena and Palmdale, the study estimates. By shortening the travel time to Palmdale, the project could help fuel an expansion of Palmdale Regional Airport, Poole added. The idea has already been subject to preliminary studies by the Southern California Association of Governments and the city of Palmdale, but no one has fully examined the technical requirements or environmental consequences of such a massive project. And the idea could be a tough sell to state officials, who remain skeptical about the costs and the concept. Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Carson, the chairwoman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, said toll roads such as the 91 Freeway in Orange County have been a failure. ``If this toll road costs as much as they think it will, it's not going to pencil out in terms of being able to put any kind of rational per-mile toll that people will be willing to pay,'' Oropeza said. ``It's just not going to work.'' ``I'm not a huge fan of toll roads, because I view them as elitist e·lit·ism or é·lit·ism n. 1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources. ,'' she added. ``Our public highways ought to be accessible to everybody regardless of their income level.'' The Reason Foundation study blamed the Orange County toll road's problems on political conflicts and said it now functions successfully. Two years ago, the foundation produced a similar study that focused primarily on toll roads for commercial trucks. Harrison Sheppard, (916)446-6723 harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com |
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