OCTA Won’t Show at State Hearing on 91 Lanes Deal

Orange County transportation officials have refused an invitation to appear in Sacramento at next week’s special hearing to examine the collapsed sale of the 91 Express Lanes, concerning some state and local officials.

“When we ask someone to come speak to us, it means we feel they need to,” said state Sen. Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach), the chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, which is holding the hearings with its Assembly counterpart. “By not coming, it makes it seem like they have something to hide.”

State Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) also was surprised by the Orange County Transportation Authority’s decision.

“The OCTA declined?” Morrow asked. “Well, then they could come up here and say that. I would urge them to reconsider. This is a very important hearing to discuss public policy. And we need to try to get to the bottom of this.”

Orange County transportation officials said they decided not to attend because they felt there was little light they could shed on the controversy that has consumed Caltrans and high-ranking state officials for more than two months.

The deal--now dead--involved the sale of the 91 Express Lanes from the private company that has been operating it to a nonprofit corporation called NewTrac, whose principals also said they would not attend the hearing because of a related probe by the state attorney general’s office.

“That project is not ours,” OCTA spokesman Dave Simpson said Thursday. “We didn’t think we could add anything. . . . We are very familiar with the organization that was going to buy the lanes and we were very supportive of that. But we declined because we weren’t familiar with details of the proposed sale.”

OCTA would support any improvements needed for the chronically congested Riverside Freeway, Simpson added. However, the project was developed by the state and the county is not involved, Simpson said.

Long before a change in state policy made private toll lanes possible, OCTA did preliminary design and engineering work for road widening along the median of the Riverside Freeway, where the toll lanes now exist.

Those plans were eventually turned over to the California Private Transportation Co., the toll road operator. When the company proposed to sell the lanes to NewTrac, part of the arrangement called for OCTA to be reimbursed $9 million for that work.

Pointed Remarks From Moorlach

Orange County Treasurer John M.W. Moorlach said he was disturbed by OCTA’s stance, particularly in light of the substantial value of the work that was turned over to the toll operator.

“If everything is straight up, OCTA shouldn’t have a problem appearing,” Moorlach said. “I’m disturbed that they won’t be there. It just seems to me that if you aren’t going to talk you’re hiding something.”

Moorlach said the transportation agency’s extensive history with NewTrac and the California Private Transportation Co., and the promise of the $9-million reimbursement, should compel OCTA officials to testify.

Legislative staff members preparing for next week’s hearing say OCTA’s refusal was delivered by the agency’s Sacramento lobbyist, Christopher M. Micheli. Micheli is with Carpenter Snodgrass & Associates, a firm that also represents the California Private Transportation Co. in Sacramento.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Assemblyman Rod Pacheco (R-Corona) said he will introduce legislation within a month to set up a governmental agency to buy the lanes. Purchasing the lanes from the private operator may be the only way around provisions of a “non-compete” clause that prohibits the state from widening the freeway, he said.

“The goal of this legislation is to ease congestion and reduce the accidents and injuries,” Pacheco said. “The path we take to get there is going around the clause and the only way to get around that clause is to have someone purchase the road.”

Selling the toll lanes is California Private Transportation Co.’s priority, said its general manager, Greg Hulsizer.

“The 91 Express Lanes are for sale,” Hulsizer said. “Our goal is to sell the project at a fair price and in a time frame that’s acceptable.”

* A PARK, NOT A PARKWAY

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