BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 545
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Cedillo
VERSION: 4/20/09
Analysis by: Art Bauer FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 28, 2009
SUBJECT:
Freeway construction
DESCRIPTION:
This bill mandates that any proposed extension of the I-710
freeway (see attached map) from its current terminus at the
boundary of the City of Los Angeles and the City of Alhambra at
Valley Boulevard to its connection with the I-210 in the City of
Pasadena be built in a tunnel.
ANALYSIS:
There have been proposed several surface alignments of this
unconstructed segment of the I-710 freeway since it was first
included in the state highway system in 1963. The proposed
alignments have engendered substantial community opposition.
This bill prohibits constructing the extension of the I-710
freeway at grade, as an elevated structure, or as a
cut-and-cover tunnel, effectively requiring construction of a
tunnel constructed by using tunnel boring technology should a
decision be made to close the gap.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The purpose of this bill is to remove from
consideration previously rejected surface alignments for the
I-710 freeway extension in the event the Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) and the Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) decide to proceed
with the environmental review process and preliminary
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engineering, which are the first phase of project development.
2.Background . Over nearly fifty years, alternative concepts have
been proposed and evaluated to complete the I-710 freeway and
close the 4.5 mile gap in the corridor. To date, none of the
previously proposed and evaluated surface alternatives has
successfully addressed community concerns. These traditional
freeway concepts traversed through highly developed urbanized
neighborhoods of Los Angeles, Alhambra, South Pasadena, and
Pasadena, requiring such large amounts of right-of-way that
they were unacceptable to the communities in the corridor. In
response to the community objections, a tunnel concept was
proposed for assessment as a potential option to the surface
freeway alternatives.
3.Recent Los Angeles County sales tax includes funding for
project . Last November, Los Angeles County voters approved a
thirty-year local transportation sales tax. AB 2321 (Feuer),
Chapter 302, Statutes of 2008, authorized the placement of
this sales tax increase before the voters. When the voters
approved the tax as Measure R, they also approved an
expenditure plan of specific projects for which the tax
revenue must be used. The expenditure plan identified
explicitly $780 million, about 21 percent of the estimated
project cost, for the I-710 tunnel project. The approval of
the sales tax placed the project into MTA's thirty-year county
transportation plan.
4.The extension is included in regional transportation plan. The
Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the
federally designated metropolitan planning organization for
Southern California, has included the project in the regional
transportation plan since 1989 and in the regional
transportation improvement program, the multimodal
transportation capital outlay program for the region, since
1991. The project was included in the plan, according to SCAG,
because it relieves heavy traffic congestion on the surface
streets of the cities in the corridor and, in so doing,
contributes to the plan achieving conformity with federal and
state air quality standards.
5.Initial studies underway . In order to have a comprehensive
base of geotechnical information regarding the corridor prior
to initiating the environmental analysis and preliminary
engineering, Caltrans has retained an engineering firm to
undertake a detailed analysis of the subsurface geology in the
corridor. The study will be completed in the fall of this
SB 545 (CEDILLO) Page 3
year, and after that benchmark is met, Caltrans and MTA will
decide whether to proceed with the environmental analysis.
Several issues will be examined during the environmental
analysis, including alternative underground alignments for the
tunnel, project financing, and the disposition of several
dozen homes, many of which are historic, that were acquired by
Caltrans several years ago in anticipation of constructing a
surface facility.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 22, 2009)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.