MASSIVE IGNORING OF TRANSIT SOUTHLAND OFFICIALS FEEL ARNOLD'S PLAN FALLS SHORT.Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer Despite a population boom forecast for California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ] hopes to keep traffic 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. from worsening - and even improve it from today's levels - with his $107 billion transportation plan, officials said Friday. The governor's ambitious proposal for highways and freight-moving projects - which would be funded, in part, by voter-approved bonds - is unprecedented in a region where commuters spend 93 hours a year idling in traffic. It would add 750 highway miles, 550 miles of car-pool lanes and 600 miles of commuter rail. ``We think we can make a significant improvement over today's levels for the motorists in California,'' said Sunne Wright McPeak, the administration's secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. ``Our goal is 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. below today's level and still accommodate the increase in growth.'' And while transit officials in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County hailed the administration's plans for improving freeways and rebuilding the state's crumbling infrastructure, they also blasted the plan for ignoring mass transit mass transit, public transportation systems designed to move large numbers of passengers. Types and Advantages Mass transit refers to municipal or regional public shared transportation, such as buses, streetcars, and ferries, open to all on a - projects they say are critical to reducing congestion. They were especially disappointed the state's working list of projects didn't include money for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for H. Gaylord Wilshire (1861-1927), an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. subway, the Westside's Exposition light-rail train or the San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Valley's promised extensions to the Orange Line. ``I appreciate and agree with his vision for dealing with the state's infrastructure problems. I'm disappointed in his transportation element; there's no transit,'' said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky Zev Yaroslavsky (born December 21, 1948) is a Los Angeles County politician. He served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1975 until 1994, when he was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He was preceded in both offices by Edmund D. Edelman. , who also sits on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. ``Part of the reason we have traffic congestion is that people have no alternative but to use their cars. If we don't address the mass-transit alternative issue, we can't solve the traffic problem. ``My hope is the Legislature will fill in where the governor's proposal has fallen short.'' Schwarzenegger's transportation proposal is part of a sweeping $222 billion public-works project outlined Thursday night in his State of the State speech. Both the Senate and the Assembly are considering their own bond proposals that would include funding for transportation. ``We welcome the conversation we're about to have,'' said Vincent Duffy, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who presented his own infrastructure bond proposal Friday. ``We're going to take a long, hard look at this stuff.'' Under Schwarzenegger's plan, Los Angeles County would get more than $1.2 billion for a range of highway and freight projects - including a car-pool lane on the northbound 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. between the Westside and 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. , the biggest single highway project on the governor's list. But controversy is already mounting for the projects the governor wants to fund and the amount of revenue going to each region. Los Angeles County, for example, would get almost as much as the Central Valley, for which the governor proposes $1 billion to expand Highway 99. McPeak said the project list is ``not set in stone'' and that 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. and other local transportation commissions will be able to offer their choices in public hearings before the California Transportation Commission slated for fall, presuming pre·sum·ing adj. Having or showing excessive and arrogant self-confidence; presumptuous. pre·sum  ing·ly adv. voters approve the
bonds this summer.
But she warns that the governor's list includes projects that could be done quickest and give the biggest bang for the buck at reducing traffic. Any substitutions - like Villaraigosa's subway, for example - would have to do the same. The only new transit project for Los Angeles is $290 million for more rail tracks Rail tracks are used on railways (or railroads), which, together with railroad switches (or points), guide trains without the need for steering. Tracks consist of two parallel steel rails, which are laid upon sleepers (or cross ties) that are embedded in ballast to form the on the crowded line Metrolink shares with freight trains east from Union Station. McPeak said mass-transit projects didn't make the governor's list because they don't capture enough riders unless they're coupled with housing developments, and they take longer than the 10-year plan to build. ``There's not, right now, that much room for (that) kind of transit.'' Funding for the governor's projects would come from the $12 billion in bonds, which would have to repaid from the state's general fund, and other sources. But he has also proposed 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. that could be built privately by firms that could collect fees, which has drawn mixed reaction. Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza Jenny Oropeza is the California State Senator for the 28th district which includes the cities of Carson, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and Torrance; the Los Angeles communities of Cheviot Hills, Del Aire, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, Lennox, Mar , D-Carson, who chairs the Transportation Committee, is open to tolls for trucks or freight, but not for commuters. ``She hates the idea of the toll roads for regular passenger vehicles. She thinks they're 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. and don't help working people,'' said her spokesman, Ray Sotero. But Villaraigosa, who chairs the MTA, is willing to consider tolls on cars. ``It's something we're willing to consider if it's something we think would be beneficial for us,'' said his spokesman, Darrell Ryan. Key to the governor's transportation plan is a ballot measure that would prevent the Legislature from diverting gas-tax revenue that is supposed to be earmarked for transportation projects. Mark Pisano, executive director of the Southern California Association of Governments - the group that just gave traffic a failing grade in its annual report - said the governor can achieve his bold goal of reducing traffic congestion if he couples highway and transit construction with new land-use patterns. Pisano is confident the governor is just as interested in the kind of mixed-use, high-density housing along transit corridors SCAG scag - To destroy the data on a disk, either by corrupting the file system or by causing media damage. Compare scrog, roach. believes are key to reducing traffic. ``These (transportation) projects are absolutely important, but without a modification of development patterns ... you can't get to today's levels of congestion,'' he said. ``You have to deal with the development patterns and the housing in order to achieve that.'' Lisa Mascaro, (818) 713-3761 lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com LOCAL TAKE Here are some of the Southern California transportation projects proposed in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $222 billion infrastructure plan, which includes $107 billion for transportation: Highways Car-pool lane on northbound 405 (Westside to Valley): $350 million Car-pool lanes on I-10, La Puente to Diamond Bar: $280 million Improvements to I-5 interchange at Carmenita Road: $100 million Various smaller projects from auxiliary lanes to freeway connectors on I-5, I-10, the 405 and State Routes 91 and 60 across Southern California: $280 million Transit Add railroad track to ease congestion on the line that Metrolink, Amtrak Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corp., authorized to operate virtually all intercity passenger railroad routes in the United States. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 in response to more than two decades of continuous operating deficits by privately run and freight trains share from Union Station to the east: $290 million Alternative transportation options Bike/pedestrian/park-and-ride facilities statewide: $200 million CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Currently on the 405 Freeway, cars going southbound over the Sepulveda Pass enjoy a car-pool lane. Northbound traffic doesn't. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer Box: LOCAL TAKE (see text) |
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