OCTA Responds to I-405 Feedback with Project Revisions

Since the draft environmental documents were released in May, there has been significant reaction to improvement plans for the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Orange County between Costa Mesa and the Los Angeles County line.

More than 1,200 official letters and e-mails were submitted during the comment period regarding the project being spearheaded by the Orange County Transportation Authority in concert with Caltrans. And even more debate has occurred at meetings in the community, in the news and online.

OCTA has a long history of listening to the community, working with our city partners and addressing concerns about construction impacts. This project is no exception. It is this kind of effort that led to the successful completion of the 20-year Measure M program and voters’ willingness to renew the half-cent sales tax in 2006, which is paving the way for desperately needed improvements on the 405 and to other freeways, streets and transit throughout the county.

Based on the community’s feedback, OCTA is now working on refinements to modify the three proposed project alternatives and is considering modifications to one of the alternatives.  

The three construction options:

• Alternative 1: Adds one regular lane in each direction between Euclid Street and I-605
• Alternative 2: Includes the regular lane in Alternative 1 and adds a second northbound lane between Brookhurst Street and SR-22/7th Street, and a southbound lane between Seal Beach Boulevard and Brookhurst Street
• Alternative 3: Includes the regular lane from Alternative 1 and adds one express lane in each direction between SR-73 and I-605

In addition to three alternatives listed above, OCTA is now proposing a variation on Alternative 3 that would truncate the express lanes north of Fairview Avenue to reduce the project cost, avoid reconstruction of the Fairview bridge and to eliminate the direct connection to SR-73.

The express lanes would work in conjunction with the existing carpool lane and allow solo drivers to pay a toll similar to the operation of the 91 Express Lanes. Buses, vanpools and carpools with three or more people would travel for free. Also being reevaluated is the potential for traditional carpools of two people being allowed to use the express lanes for free during off-peak periods. In addition, OCTA is proposing an HOV exclusive “Fastrak” account that does not require a monthly fee. 

Other project refinements being explored include:

• Reconfiguring the Magnolia Avenue/Warner Avenue interchange to avoid the need to acquire up to four full businesses in Fountain Valley
• Reducing impacts to parking in Westminster by altering the project design
• Potentially avoiding the wall relocation on Almond Avenue in the College Park East Neighborhood of Seal Beach through design variations
• Conducting soundwall surveys and community meetings to get feedback on proposed soundwalls and using Measure M2 funds to maximize heights

In addition to those refinements, OCTA will review the existing data and perform additional traffic analysis in response to concerns about a perceived bottleneck from cities on both sides of Orange and Los Angeles county border.

In 2040, there is a wide variation between how many cars each of the alternatives would move through this stretch of freeway during rush-hour traffic and how long it would take:

• Alternative 1: 7,200 vehicles per hour, with a travel time of 57 minutes in the regular lanes and 54 minutes in the carpool lane
• Alternative 2: 8,400 vehicles per hour, with a travel time of 28 minutes in the regular lanes and 27 minutes in the carpool lane
• Alternative 3: 9,500 vehicles per hour, with a travel time of 29 minutes in the regular lanes and 13 minutes in the express lanes

Moving forward, the OCTA board is scheduled to select a locally preferred alternative on Sept. 24 and Caltrans will decide upon a final alternative later in the fall.