BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 353
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 353 (Cedillo) - As Introduced: February 10, 2011
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:11-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill repeals provisions allowing Caltrans to build the
Interstate 710 (I-710) freeway gap closure project in Los
Angeles County without first securing a freeway agreement with
the affected local jurisdictions.
FISCAL EFFECT
By repealing the freeway agreement exemption, this bill
effectively eliminates any foreseeable opportunity to build an
at- or above-surface project to complete the freeway gap
closure, which likely would be much less costly than a
subsurface alternative. Without the exemption, any at- or
above-surface alternative will require Caltrans to secure a
freeway agreement with long-time opponents to the surface
freeway, such as South Pasadena, which is unlikely to happen.
Practically speaking, however, having this exemption in statute
for almost 30 years has had no impact toward moving the I-710
project forward, thus there should be little real impact to its
repeal in terms of resolving the issues surrounding this
project.
COMMENTS
1)Background . I-710 is a major north-south interstate freeway
running 23 miles through Los Angeles County-from Long Beach to
Alhambra, stopping short of the originally planned terminus in
Pasadena. Construction of the 4.5-mile segment between
Alhambra and Pasadena, through South Pasadena, has been
delayed for decades due to community opposition. Legislation
enacted in 1982 exempted Caltrans from the need to secure a
AB 353
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freeway agreement from the local jurisdictions for this
project to move forward. In spite of this exemption, none of
the previously proposed and evaluated alternatives have been
successful in satisfying the regional mobility needs and
community and environmental concerns. As a result, the
freeway gap closure project remains unconstructed.
In response to these above concerns, and to lessen the
potential impact of completing the I-710, a tunnel concept has
been proposed as a potential option to the surface
alternatives. The LA County Metropolitan Transportation County
has completed a preliminary assessment, which determined that
the tunnel alternative was feasible and that potential
environmental impacts could be minimized, eliminated, or
mitigated. As a result, the MTA is conducting more detailed
studies to validate these findings and determine whether the
tunnel concept can ultimately serve as a viable alternative to
complete the I-710 freeway.
2)Purpose . Proponents assert that, by repealing the freeway
agreement exemption, they can demonstrate a commitment to
South Pasadena that they no longer intend to pursue a surface
solution for the I-710 freeway gap closure project. With that,
proponents hope to allay South Pasadena's opposition to the
tunnel alternative. (Reportedly, a tunnel solution will not
require any local streets and roads to be closed in South
Pasadena.)
3)Opposition . The 710 Coalition asserts that the bill is
premature in that the environmental impact study currently
underway will recommend the best possible plan for filling the
freeway gap. The Coalition argues that the environmental
study should be completed first and then, if the study
confirms that no local streets will be involved, the freeway
agreement-law can be repealed.
4)Prior Legislation . In 2010, SB 545 (Cedillo), which prohibited
the I-710 gap project from being a surface or above-grade
project, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who argued the
bill was unnecessary given the current process being
undertaken by Caltrans and the MTA and that it was
inappropriate to put design restrictions in statute.
In 2000, AB 1930 (Scott) and SB 1497 (Schiff), which sought to
repeal the freeway agreement exemption, both died in the
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Assembly.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081