TRANSIT PLANNERS NEEDED WHERE ARE L.A. VISIONARIES?

Byline: Charles J. O'Connell Local View

AS one crawls along on the freeways during periods of heavy congestion, there must be many who wonder, How could this have come about? Didn't anyone plan for the future?

Many years ago, the future looked bright for meeting the anticipated transportation needs of the region.

Engineers from the city of Los Angeles developed plans during the late 1930s for many parkways to serve the area.

The state Division of Highways (eventually to become Caltrans) built the Pasadena Freeway, completing the first freeway in the West in 1940.

After the ``time out'' for World War II, the Division of Highways began construction on the historic four-level interchange in downtown, and segments of the Hollywood Freeway, Santa Ana Freeway, San Bernardino Freeway and Harbor Freeway immediately got under way.

To further address the dynamic post-war population boom, an organization of chief engineers from Los Angeles city and county and many of the cities in the region, together with the state Division of Highways, formed the Metropolitan Transportation Engineering Board.

Their efforts culminated in 1958 with a master plan for the region that was eventually incorporated into the state freeway and expressway system by the Legislature in 1959.

Planning through 1980s

Based upon projections at the time, the master plan was envisioned to be necessary to meet growth needs through the mid-1980s. (Interestingly, the statewide leaders were Sen. Randolph Collier from Northern California, who was the driving force in the Legislature, and then-Gov. Pat Brown.)

The plan called for 12,500 miles of freeways statewide and 1,500 miles in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties.

It was also a dynamic period for public works, as the state aqueduct proposal was being developed to meet future water needs for Southern California.

The state freeway and expressway system plan included the familiar Ventura, San Diego, Golden State, Hollywood, Foothill and Simi-San Fernando (Ronald Reagan) freeways, which today are heavily traveled and generally handling traffic volumes far greater than they were designed for.

Construction during the `60s was at a feverish pace with the construction of the San Diego and Golden State freeways and sections of the Ventura being completed. The route locations for the Simi Valley and Foothill freeways were adopted, with design well under way and construction almost ready to go.

Engineering studies for the Malibu-Whitnall Freeway, an east-west freeway across the mid-San Fernando Valley, from near the junction of the 5-170 interchange in Arleta to the already adopted Pacific Coast Freeway in Malibu, were completed and the route location adopted by the California Highway Commission.

Some acquisition of property had already begun. Waiting in the wings for study was a companion north-south cross-Valley freeway, roughly paralleling Reseda Boulevard from near the junction of the 5-14 interchange in the Granada Hills-Sylmar area across the Santa Monica Mountains to the (then-under study) Pacific Coast Freeway near Sunset Boulevard.

The Laurel Canyon Freeway across the Santa Monica Mountains from North Hollywood to the already adopted Beverly Hills Freeway and south to Los Angeles International Airport (and the Century Freeway) was under study.

NIMBYs arise

But beginning in the mid-'70s, the small but vocal group of NIMBYs and environmental extremists found ammunition to bring things to a halt.

Congress had passed the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969, the state followed with the California Environmental Quality Act in 1970, and then Congress came up with the Clean Air Act.

While designed to assure that proper environmental consideration was given to all public and private projects, the laws were hijacked and used by those who were committed to obstructing progress.

About the same time, a shortage of transportation funds provided elected officials with the added impetus to pander to the noisy NIMBYs and environmental extremists.

It was during the mid- and late `70s that elected officials at the state level abandoned the vision established less than 20 years prior by their predecessors by defunding projects, halting studies and, with few exceptions, essentially bringing progress to a halt. (Ironically, Pat Brown's son, Gov. Jerry Brown, was now presiding over the demise of future freeways.)

In addition, environmentalists brought forth litigation.

A liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court has been receptive to their overtures.

And so gone with the wind were the Malibu-Whitnall, Reseda to the Sea, Laurel Canyon, Pacific Coast, Beverly Hills, Route 2 to Palmdale, Slauson, Western Avenue and Industrial freeways.

These freeways would have directly or indirectly provided circulation, alternate routes and relief to the transportation-needy San Fernando Valley residents.

As a result, only about 65 percent of the freeway mileage planned to meet mid-1980s needs have been completed by 2003.

Orange County

Now compare Los Angeles County with Orange County, where the county and Caltrans were able to cooperate, while the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has continued to remain focused on various forms of rail transit.

The Orange County Transportation Commission, later to become the Orange County Transportation Authority, prioritized freeway and surface street transportation as their No. 1 transportation need.

Freeway construction moved ahead in Orange County, and most of the original freeways envisioned have been completed and additional ones have been constructed.

As a result of this focused, proactive cooperative effort, the San Diego Freeway from the Los Angeles County line to El Toro was widened extensively, with full, standard lane widths and HOV lanes; the massive 405-5 interchange in El Toro was completely rebuilt; the 405 was further widened south to Dana Point; the 55 Newport Freeway has been rebuilt and widened; many miles of additional car-pool lanes added; new toll roads, including the San Joaquin Hills Corridor and the Foothill Transportation Corridors were independently constructed, with Caltrans generally taking over the maintenance; the 90 Freeway was widened by two toll and carpool lanes in each direction and priced based upon demand; and the Santa Ana Freeway was reconstructed and widened to full-lane width standards with four and five lanes in each direction plus carpool lanes in the middle.

Has anyone noticed how the Santa Ana Freeway drops abruptly to three lanes in each direction as one enters Los Angeles County?

These freeway improvements in Orange County have been accomplished by acquiring adjacent property for the widenings and master-planning the corridors to complement the community.

The San Fernando Valley is at a critical juncture, with intolerable congestion having built up on most of the freeways and key surface arterials.

To some degree, because of elected officials' unwillingness to challenge rigid interpretations of federal and state air quality regulations, primarily in the Los Angeles County area, Caltrans has been forced to add capacity by utilizing the car-pool concept of additional HOV lanes in the freeway medians.

Although these have proved very popular on some freeways, they have been met with mixed reviews on other freeways.

Public transit has met many needs, and will continue to do so, but at a very heavy public cost. Experience has proved both in the United States and Europe that when the public has a choice, the much-maligned car is the choice.

Alternatives needed

The Valley can no longer shove the transportation problem under the bed.

It must seriously address the alternatives of more mixed-flow freeway lanes, car-pool lanes, light rail (including monorail) and bus transitways or even new freeways.

The Valley has a great opportunity to redevelop corridors to benefit the adjacent communities, much like Orange County has done.

While there is some pain involved, the greater public good is served in the long run.

Or is the Valley destined to have the majority of its citizens, as well as businesses, pay the high price of an inadequate transportation system and stagnation?

Either way, the public pays.

Does the Valley have any leaders or visionaries left?

Or are they all in Orange County?

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Drawing:

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Jon Gerung/Staff Artist