BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AJR 4|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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|327-4478 | |
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CONSENT
Bill No: AJR 4
Author: Miller (R), et al
Amended: 6/9/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 4/25/11 - See last page for vote
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/7/11
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal,
Pavley, Rubio, Simitian
SUBJECT : State Highway 91 Corridor Improvement Project
SOURCE : Riverside County Transportation Commission
DIGEST : This resolution urges the United States
President and the United States Department of
Transportation to award a federal loan from the
Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act
program for the State Route 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.
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Existing law plus a franchise agreement between RCTC and
the California Department of Transportation authorize RCTC
to develop high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on State Route
(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 to
RCTC for its SR 91 from the Transportation Infrastructure
Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program.
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
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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.
TIFIA Program . 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 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/8/11)
Riverside County Transportation Commission (source)
CH2M HILL
Orange County Transportation Authority
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto,
Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
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Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Pan,
Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner,
Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Charles Calderon, Donnelly,
Furutani, Gorell, Halderman, Lara, Mitchell, Olsen,
Vacancy
JJA:do 6/8/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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