GOVERNOR ACCELERATES 405 CAR-POOL PROJECT.Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer Ending months of political wrangling, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ] signed a bill Friday that clears the way to speed up construction of a car-pool lane on the northbound 405 Freeway into the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Standing alongside the San Diego Freeway The San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405, and the part of Interstate 5 south of the El Toro Y[1]) is one of the principal north-south highways in Southern California, and the major beltway of I-5 running through Southern California. , crawling with bumper-to-bumper traffic, the Republican governor praised the bipartisan effort, which he hopes to replicate as he undertakes a multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild California's transportation system. ``This bill demonstrates once again when there is a will - and Democrats and Republicans work together - that anything is possible,'' Schwarzenegger said. ``You can see, actually, the traffic that the people have been through year after year after year on the 405 Freeway ... All of this takes time away from our families and it chokes the air with pollution and it slows down our economy. ``So we're going to do something about that. Here, we're going to add another northbound lane.'' SB 1026 allows construction of the 10-mile, $500 million lane between the Westside and the Valley to begin in 2009 - six years earlier than originally planned - bringing 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. relief by 2012. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. , the former Assembly speaker who lobbied lawmakers hard to pass the bill, thanked the governor for helping improve ``America's most congested con·gest·ed adj. Affected with or characterized by congestion. congested ENT adjective Referring to a boggy blood-filled tissue. See Nasal congestion. freeway.'' ``This stretch of the 405 has no peer anywhere in the nation,'' said the mayor, citing the 93 hours a year that Southern Californians waste idling in traffic and the more than $11 billion it costs the region. ``Make no mistake, this is going to be an important contribution for reducing congestion on the 405.'' The car-pool lane would be one of the missing links in the high-occupancy-vehicle network, particularly through the traffic-jammed Valley. Although commuters often disparage dis·par·age tr.v. dis·par·aged, dis·par·ag·ing, dis·par·ag·es 1. To speak of in a slighting or disrespectful way; belittle. See Synonyms at decry. 2. To reduce in esteem or rank. the HOV lanes, transportation planners see them as key to moving more motorists on increasingly packed Southern California freeways  The of this article or section may be compromised by "peacock terms".You can help Wikipedia by removing peacock terms. . The signing of the first bill of 2006 capped a dramatic six-month process in which the fate of the project was repeatedly jeopardized. Schwarzenegger was initially slow to support efforts by Rep. Howard Berman Howard Lawrence "Howie" Berman (born April 15 1941) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1983, representing the 28th District of California (map). , D-Van Nuys, to include money for the project in the federal highway spending bill, instead promoting a freight-rail project in 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, . But under mounting public pressure, the governor threw his support behind the 405 project and Berman got $130 million allocated for the car- pool lane. Because the money has to be spent by 2009, the California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a government agency in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems in California. said it needed legislative approval to fast-track the project, using the controversial design-build construction method opposed by the state's engineering union. The Assembly sparred over the bill until Villaraigosa and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuez got it passed in the final days of the fall session. But the Senate recessed a day earlier than scheduled, stalling the project until its passage this week. On Friday, the drama came to a close in one of those only-in-California moments when the action-hero-turned governor signed SB 1026 co-authored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl Sheila James Kuehl (born February 9, 1941 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American politician, and a former child actress. She is currently a Democratic member of the California State Senate, representing the highly urbanized 23rd district in Los Angeles County and parts of southern , D-Los Angeles, who portrayed Zelda in the 1960s sitcom ``The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis.'' ``This is the first bill I've carried that was really, really selfish because I live here,'' Kuehl said. ``This is my freeway. I drive up and down the 405 all the time and I wanted it to move faster.'' Schwarzenegger has pledged $350 million toward the project, part of a $222 billion infrastructure improvement proposal that he claims will reduce traffic congestion by 20 percent over the next decade. The governor used the spotlight Friday to promote his plan, which includes the design-build method on projects statewide. ``This is exactly the kind of innovation that's envisioned in my strategic-growth plan that will build roads, freeways, tunnels, highways and all kinds of projects to speed up the commute everywhere across California,'' he said. Lisa Mascaro, (818) 713-3761 lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo, map Photo: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shares a joke with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as he signs SB 1026 on Friday overlooking the 405 Freeway. The bill will speed up construction of a car-pool lane on the northbound 405 Freeway into the San Fernando Valley. David Sprague/Staff Photographer Map: Proposed 405 Freeway northbound car-pool lane SOURCE: Caltrans Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion