Dear California
Transportation Commission board members:
I am writing on behalf of Friends of Southern
California's Highways, a community organization
dedicated to the rebuilding and expansion of our
regional highway system. We would like to express our
opposition to Centerline, the proposed $2 billion
light rail project in Orange County. In the past
decade, we have watched Los Angeles County spend over
$7 billion on three rail lines, only to increase mass
transit ridership by a few tenths of a percent. The
rail lines in Los Angeles have failed in their
promise to reduce traffic congestion on parallel
freeways, and bus service has suffered because local
agencies like the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority have spent large portions of their budgets
on the rail lines that serve a small fraction of
commuters. Light rail in Los Angeles has also cost
large amounts in continuing subsidies of operating
costs-a heavy anchor around the taxpayers' necks.
The Green Line light
rail project in Los Angeles provides a clear
demonstration that highways are far more cost-effective
than light rail: The Green Line's ridership recently
reached 30,000 per day, which pales in comparison to
the 278,000 trips handled by the parallel Century (I-105)
Freeway. The freeway and the Green Line were built at
the same time, for a total of $2.3 billion--$1.5
billion for the freeway and $800 million for the rail
line. So, the freeway portion of the project carries
nine times as many people as the rail line, for only
twice the cost.
Instead of throwing
over $2 billion into a rail line that will serve few
people and have a negligible effect on traffic
congestion, the California Transportation Commission
should increase funding for roads and highways.
Orange County desperately needs another east/west
freeway to supplement the Riverside Freeway (CA-91),
which is congested between Orange and Riverside
Counties for large portions of the day, even on
weekends. Ideally, this new highway should be an
eastward extension of the Garden Grove Freeway (CA-22),
which is also in serious need of improvement. And the
Centerline rail boondoggle would not need to be built
at all if the Orange Freeway (CA-57) were extended
southward to the San Diego Freeway (I-405) along the
Santa Ana River, and the CA-60/CA-57 multiplex were
improved to allow for free traffic flow.
There is significant
opposition to the Centerline rail project, because of
its high costs, negligible benefits, and impacts on
communities. When this issue comes up during the
April 3-4 meeting, please do not grant funding to the
Centerline. Instead, give funding to highway projects
that will have lasting, positive impacts on mobility
and traffic flow.
Sincerely,
Mike Pratt
Director, Friends of Southern California's Highways
