At first glance, it reminds you of Boston’s controversial “Big Dig.” Nonetheless, a group called the Reason Foundation has proposed digging a tunnel from Glendale to Palmdale as part of a larger expressway that will someday connect Riverside and Orange counties. And oh yes, there will be an extensive network of toll lanes.
For a price tag of $700 billion, the plan calls for connection of all Southern California freeways, along with tolled overpasses and underpasses at the familiar “bottleneck” interchanges. There will also be an increase in bus rapid transit and express service.
Here’s what the tunnel might entail: It would extend north from the Glendale (2) Freeway in Glendale, connecting with the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway just south of Palmdale. A high-desert corridor express will be constructed between the 14 Freeway in Palmdale and Interstate 15 in Victorville. The Long Beach (710) Freeway will have an extenuation tunnel that connects with the Foothill (210) Freeway in Pasadena. There would be a Downtown Los Angeles bypass tunnel extending to the Glendale Freeway south through Los Angeles to the Harbor (110) Freeway. An Irvine-Corona Freeway will include an expressway and tunnel between Riverside and Orange counties and, finally, planners envision a “cross mountain” expressway and tunnel between the Ventura (101) Freeway in the San Fernando Valley and the Santa Monica (10) Freeway in Los Angeles.
“Southern California is facing crucial transportation decisions,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, author of the Reason Foundation report. “The region’s current long-range mobility plans admit that traffic congestion will only get worse, even after taxpayers spend more than $600 billion in transportation funds. By focusing on reducing congestion and replacing expensive, ineffective rail proposals with cost-effective buses, Reason’s plan improves mobility for drivers and transit users. And it does so without tax increases.”
The report indicates that the use of toll roads would generate about $362 billion to fully cover the costs of construction. Planners would need an additional $352 billion in “taxpayer resources,” compared to $606 billion for the existing Southern California Association of Government’s Long Range Transportation Plan.
“The Reason Foundation report offers solid solutions to these challenges that do not require tax increases and would improve mobility options for all users in the region,” said Mary Peters, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation who added that Southern California drivers already spend 80 hours sitting in stalled traffic each year.
