January 24,
2005CONTACT--
Ed Scannell/Marc Littman
Metro MEDIA RELATIONS
(213) 922-2703/(213) 922-2700
www.metro.net/press/pressroom
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24,
2005
CONTACT--
Ed Scannell/Marc Littman
Metro MEDIA RELATIONS
(213) 922-2703/(213) 922-2700
www.metro.net/press/pressroom
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MTA Board Adopts Report on Proposed $5.5 Billion Overhaul of Congestion-Plagued I-710 Freeway From Ports to Pomona Freeway
Authority Staff to
Prepare Scope of Work, Funding Plan for Environmental Phase
Following months of meetings between stakeholders, elected officials, environmental and industry groups, representatives of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, and residents living along an 18-mile stretch of the I-710 Freeway from Long Beach to East Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board today adopted the Draft Final Report on the I-710 Major Corridor Study. The report outlines a $5.5 billion Locally Preferred Strategy aimed at overhauling the heavily congested artery and parallel arterials to accommodate future growth and improve safety and air quality.
The Board also authorized
preparation of a scope of work for a future environmental analysis of the
project and preparation of a funding plan for the environmental work that would
include commitments from multiple funding partners. The scope of work would also
include an assessment of impacts to the I-710/SR 60 interchange and an
evaluation of alternative project delivery methods. Preparation of the scope of
work would employ guidance from community advisory committees along the I-710.
The environmental phase would
examine design alternatives and evaluate the benefits and impacts of widening
the 50-year old freeway to 14 lanes from the existing six to 10 lanes and adding
a four-lane truck facility as outlined in the study's Locally Preferred
Strategy.
"All
of Southern California's freeways are riddled with congestion, but the huge
daily volume of commercial truck traffic and vehicle traffic on the 710, and the
freeway's role as a driver of the local, state and national economies, demand
we design a fix," said Frank Roberts, Lancaster Mayor and Metro Chair.
"Today's action is a significant milestone as we move to expand the capacity
of the 710, and the alternative we'll examine in the environmental phase has
strong support from the communities along this vital artery."
"A recently completed
project study report on the I-5 in North Los Angeles County
Today's
action by the Board caps off a nine month effort by community advisory
committees, a technical advisory committee and the I-710 Oversight Policy
Committee to develop a solution that meets the requirements of sound highway
construction as well as the desires of residents along the I-710 for a project
that would address health concerns, as well as congestion, with a minimal need
to acquire properties.
As
part of today's action the Board also directed Metro CEO Roger Snoble to form
a multi-jurisdictional partnership to identify air quality improvement
strategies prior to conducting an environmental study.
The
funding plan that staff will develop would need to include commitments from
multiple funding partners in addition to Metro such as the Gateway Cities
Council of Governments, Caltrans, Southern California Association of
Governments, and Ports of Long Beach/Los Angeles, as well as from federal
funding and other sources.
Locally
Preferred Strategy
On
November 18, 2004, the I-710 Oversight Policy Committee approved the I-710 Major
Corridor Study's Locally Preferred Strategy, which includes: (1) 10 general
purpose lanes; (2) four exclusive truck lanes, two in each direction, between
the inter-modal rail yards in Vernon/Commerce and Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach;
(3) Transportation System Management/Transportation Design Management (TSM/TDM)
improvements, including additional ramp metering, truck emission reduction
programs, extended port gate hours, landscaping, etc.; (4) interchange and
arterial highway improvements within the corridor; (5) construction of truck
inspection facilities to be integrated into the overall design concept; and (6)
incorporation of a mini-study of the I-710/I-5 interchange.
The Locally Preferred
Strategy includes a hybrid of previously examined design alternatives. The
hybrid would increase the I-710's capacity while reducing the number of
anticipated residential property acquisitions to five and commercial structures
to 61 (excluding the area covered by the forthcoming mini-study of the I-710/I-5
interchange), which would require several design exceptions. The Federal Highway
Administration and Caltrans have agreed to work cooperatively to resolve those
exceptions.
The recommendations in the
Locally Preferred Strategy were culled from numerous meetings involving
environmental and industry groups, health experts, representatives
The corridor cities include
Long Beach, Carson, Paramount, Compton, Lynwood, Bell, Bell Gardens, Maywood,
South Gate, Huntington Park, Downey, Vernon, Cudahy, and the City of Commerce.
The Oversight Policy
Committee also recommended that the Gateway Cities Council of Governments return
with suggested steps for developing and implementing a corridor-level air
quality action plan and to pursue other quality of life improvements for the
corridor.
"We as policy makers have
to find a way of looking at public works projects and making them work for the
community," said Gloria Molina, L.A. County Supervisor and Metro Board Member.
"We need to acknowledge that there are serious environmental issues such as
air quality that need to be addressed before we can expect that our communities
can support projects like the I-710."
Funding
The
anticipated cost of an I-710 EIS/EIR (Environmental Impact
Statement/Environmental Impact Report) is estimated at approximately $25 to $30
million dollars and the document would take three to four years to complete.
A separate but complementary
study, the Multi-County Goods Movement Action Plan, will be conducted to address
region-wide goods movement transportation needs including the potential impacts
of goods movement via freeway corridors beyond the I-710.
The I-710 Major Corridor
Study assumes that the cost of building the Locally Preferred Strategy would not
be exclusively funded using the existing local transportation revenue sources;
funding will have to come from a variety of federal, state and new, dedicated
sources of revenue. The study also recognizes the economic goods movement
benefits of the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, as well as their
contribution to worsening congestion, health and air quality.
The Draft Final Report
concludes that federal funding including federal earmarks and funds from the
goods movement industry (e.g., container fees and/or truck tolls) must each have
a role in the development of the Locally Preferred Strategy. For example, the
Study
History
In
October 2000, the MTA Board authorized a comprehensive study of transportation
alternatives and improvements for the I-710. The study considered a no-build
alternative, Transportation System Management/Transportation Demand Management
alternative, and three build alternatives. One of the build alternatives,
Alternative E, called for the acquisition of 519 residential properties and 259
commercial structures.
In May 2003, in response to
public and community concerns during the evaluation phase regarding the large
amount of property acquisitions, the Board approved a motion to develop a hybrid
alternative using elements from the three build alternatives that would not
require the acquisition of homes and businesses.
In order to ensure greater
community participation and develop consensus, the Board directed staff to form
community advisory committees. Subsequently, the I-710 Oversight Policy
Committee acted to create Tier I, or "grass roots," committees were formed
in the seven cities in which the I-710 is located (Bell Gardens, Carson,
Commerce, Compton East Los Angeles, Lynwood and South Gate). The committees
identified design options that minimized right-of-way acquisitions for their
respective cities.
The City of Long Beach
developed its own public involvement and engineering process to reach consensus
on a freeway design within its city limits, and its design concept was
integrated with the work of the remainder of the corridor.
A Tier II, or corridor-wide
committee, was formed with representatives from each of the 14 corridor cities,
the City of Long Beach and two unincorporated areas, and 15 representatives from
academia, business, environmental, labor and institutional interests.
The Tier II report included
recommendations to address a wide range of subjects including health, jobs and
economic development, safety, noise, congestion and mobility, community
enhancements, design concepts and environmental justice. The report also noted
that major infrastructure improvements must be conditioned on improving air
quality.
The I-710 Technical Advisory
Committee submitted recommendations to the Oversight Policy Committee including
that the Locally Preferred Strategy substantially reduce the need for property
acquisitions, use a portion of a parallel utility right-of-way, require some
design exceptions from Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA),
improve safety by separating trucks from autos, and reduce emissions by
improving truck operating speeds.
METRO-012