ROAD CRISIS GROWS, SAYS AUTO CLUB UNDERFUNDED, CROWDED, FREEWAYS NEED MAJOR HELP.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Calling traffic congestion a ``quiet crisis'' that will dramatically worsen in the years ahead, the Automobile Club of Southern California called Wednesday on state and federal lawmakers to work harder to solve the region's transportation problems.

``Southern California has four of the top 10 most-congested freeway interchanges in the nation,'' Auto Club CEO Thomas V. McKernan Jr. said while releasing the ``Quiet Crisis'' report on California's traffic problems.

``Yet the state ranks last in the nation in per-capita transportation spending. With 10 million more Californians expected to be using highways, streets and public transit over the next two decades, we can't put off planning for our future.''

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said local officials need to call on state and federal lawmakers to make transportation their top priority.

``Despite all the elected officials we have in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., they don't act as a team to get the transportation improvements we need,'' Bernson said. ``We are not getting our fair share of the funding.''

The report calls for a major effort to achieve a regional consensus on congestion relief, pushing for more freeway lanes, more money for transit projects and more innovative ways to relieve congestion.

The report comes on the heels of a study by the respected Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College which found Los Angeles gets less per person in state and federal funds than most large cities in California.

The new report, issued by the Automobile Club of Southern California, found that between 1967 and 1997, California's road capacity increased by 29 percent while the population skyrocketed 70 percent. But highway spending has dropped from $60 per 1,000 vehicle miles driven in the 1960s to $4 in 2002.

It said the state has a 10-year, $70 billion backlog in road construction and maintenance needs. In 2001, the state's roads were rated the worst of all 50 states, and Californians spent an average of $500 a year on vehicle repairs related to bad road conditions.

Bernson said state and federal lawmakers need to focus on the growing gridlock crisis on the Ventura Freeway in the San Fernando Valley. Transportation planners have three proposals for improving traffic on the Ventura Freeway that include double-decking, putting a rail line down the middle, adding car-pool lanes and widening it in sections.

``A lot depends on the funding being made available to us by the federal government,'' Bernson said. ``But our delegates in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., are not working together as a team.''

State Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, vice-chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he welcomes the Auto Club's fight to expand freeway and road construction.

``Californians bear the third heaviest highway taxes in the country and yet we're dead last in our per capita spending on highways,'' McClintock said. ``That is a not a lack of resources, but badly skewed priorities at both the state and federal level.''

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, said Congress needs to make transportation a top priority.

``We need to fund all the different elements,'' he said. ``We need the east-west Valley busway. We need park-and-ride opportunities in lots for both for east-west Valley busway and the Metro Rapid Bus on Ventura Boulevard.''

David Fleming, chairman of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley and co-chairman of the Valley Transportation Strike Force, said traffic congestion is the No. 2 issue for people behind public safety. He said lawmakers need to make it a top priority.

The task force was instrumental in getting the city to begin a traffic-signal synchronization project in the Valley that is expected to coordinate lights at 700 intersections by 2003.

``This will turn major east-west and north-south roads into mini-freeways so at peak times you can get across the Valley in 20-25 minutes or north-south in a matter of 20 minutes,'' he said.