BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ajr 4
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: MILLER
VERSION: 4/5/11
Analysis by: Jennifer Gress FISCAL: NO
Hearing date: June 7, 2011
SUBJECT:
State Highway Route (SR) 91 Corridor Improvement Project
DESCRIPTION:
This resolution urges the United States President and the United
States Department of Transportation to award a federal loan
guarantee from the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Act (TIFIA) program for the SR 91 Corridor
Improvement Project in Riverside County.
ANALYSIS:
The Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) is the
regional transportation agency responsible for planning and
programming highway, intercity rail, and transit improvements;
allocating state and federal transportation funds; and
administering a voter-approved, half-cent sales tax measure to
fund a 20-year plan of transportation improvements in Riverside
County.
Existing law plus a franchise agreement between RCTC and the
California Department of Transportation authorize RCTC to
develop high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on SR 91 in Riverside
County. HOT lanes, referred to as "express lanes" in Riverside
County, are high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes that allow
single-occupant vehicles to use the lanes if they pay a toll.
This resolution urges the U.S. President and the U.S. Department
of Transportation to award a federal loan guarantee to RCTC for
its SR 91 from the TIFIA program.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The TIFIA program is very competitive, and this
resolution is thus intended to raise the profile of the SR 91
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Corridor Improvement Project as an important job-creating
transportation project in California.
2.The SR 91 Corridor Improvement Project . SR 91 is the only
major surface transportation facility connecting Orange and
Riverside counties and is the primary commuting route between
the two counties. A portion of SR 91 in Orange County has
five general purpose lanes and two tolled express lanes. The
express lanes end at the Orange/Riverside county line.
SR 91 in Riverside County currently has four general purpose
lanes and one high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane in each
direction, with those lanes varying in width from 11 to 12
feet. The SR 91 Corridor Improvement Project extends the
express lanes east eight miles from the Orange/Riverside
county line to SR 15 in Riverside County. The resulting
facility will consist of five general purpose lanes and two
express lanes, all with a standard 12-foot width. (At most
times of day, high-occupancy vehicles, defined for the SR 91
express lanes as vehicles having three or more occupants, may
use the express lanes for free).
The SR 91 Corridor Improvement Project also includes the
reconstruction of six interchanges with major arterial roads
in the City of Corona, a collector/distributor system of roads
that run parallel to the freeway lanes to facilitate vehicles
merging on and off the freeway, improvements to SR 15 between
the Ontario Avenue interchange and SR 91, and direct
connectors from SR 91 to southbound SR 15.
RCTC has pre-qualified four design-build teams in anticipation
of finalizing its financing package, including the TIFIA loan,
and hopes to issue the final Request For Proposals in the
summer or fall of this year to start construction in the
summer of 2012.
3.TIFIA Program . The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Act (TIFIA) program is a federal program
administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation that
provides credit assistance for projects of regional and
national significance. Many large-scale, surface
transportation projects - highway, transit, railroad,
intermodal freight, and port access - are eligible for
assistance. According to the U.S. Department of
Transportation, the goal of the program is to leverage federal
funds by attracting private and other non-federal investment
AJR 4 (MILLER) Page 3
in critical transportation projects. TIFIA was created
because state and local governments that sought to finance
large-scale transportation projects with tolls and other forms
of user-backed revenue often had difficulty obtaining
financing at reasonable rates due to the uncertainties
associated with those revenue streams. Although tolls can
become a predictable revenue source over the long term, it is
difficult to estimate how many road users will pay tolls,
particularly during the initial "ramp-up" years after
construction of a new facility. The TIFIA program offers
three types of financial assistance: a direct loan, a loan
guarantee, and a standby line of credit. RCTC is applying for
a $446 million loan.
4.Clarifying amendment . The resolution indicates that the TIFIA
application is for a loan guarantee when what RCTC has applied
for is a direct loan. The committee may wish to consider an
amendment to delete "guarantee" where necessary from the
resolution so that it accurately describes the TIFIA
application and therefore the request for support.
5.Recent legislation . AB 2098 (Miller), Chapter 250, Statutes
of 2010, authorizes RCTC to use the design-build method of
procurement for the SR 91 Corridor Improvement Project.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 70-0
Trans: 12-0
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POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 1, 2011)
SUPPORT: Riverside County Transportation Commission
(sponsor)
CH2M HILL
Orange County Transportation Authority
OPPOSED: None received.