Expansion of 710 gets needed regional boost.Though it's still six to 10 years away from reality, a massive $5 billion overhaul of an 18-mile stretch of the Long Beach (710) Freeway broke through gridlock Gridlock A government, business or institution's inability to function at a normal level due either to complex or conflicting procedures within the administrative framework or to impending change in the business. when an ad hoc committee ad hoc committee A committee formed with the purpose of addressing a specific issue or issues, which theoretically is disbanded once its raison d'etre is finished gave it the thumbs up. After gathering comment for 18 months, the I-710 Oversight Policy Committee has approved a plan to widen the freeway to 14 lanes from the existing six to 10. Four of the 14 would be dedicated to carrying the 35,000 to 42,000 truck trips made on the stretch daily. The oversight committee, comprised of representatives from the Gateway Cities The Gateway Cities of Southern California are those located in southeastern Los Angeles County. There is some cross-over between these cities and those composing South Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, the South Bay, and the San Gabriel Valley. Council of Governments, L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port of Long Beach, Caltrans and the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Association of Governments, had been seeking a way to mitigate what had become the site of 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. and pollution caused largely by trucks serving the ports. The proposal is now headed to the MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. , whose board is expected to approve the start of a three- to four-year draft environmental impact report process next summer. Plans call for construction to be complete by 2010 to 2015, depending on how long it takes to fund of the project's estimated $4.4 billion to $5 billion cost. The Gateway Cities COG applied more than a year ago for $745 million in federal funding to cover the initial construction phase, which would likely entail widening the circumference of the 50-year-old freeway's on- and off-ramps to accommodate today's larger trucks. Alterations to the initial plan could add another $500 million. Although the funding plan isn't in place yet, traffic officials believe they have at least cleared one of their biggest hurdles by getting an OK from the Gateway Cities COG, which is comprised of the 27 cities that line the corridor. "It would be somewhat more costly to realign re·a·lign tr.v. re·a·ligned, re·a·lign·ing, re·a·ligns 1. To put back into proper order or alignment. 2. To make new groupings of or working arrangements between. the freeway," said Richard Powers, executive director of the Gateway Cities COG. "But the bottom line is without the community support, there will never be a project." The plan would expand the freeway by building on the rights of way between the freeway and the dozens of giant electricity transmission towers that line the road. |
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