Extension of the 91 Express Lanes Is Being Explored

Southern California’s regional planning agency is in the midst of a $500,000 study to explore extending private toll lanes on the Riverside Freeway east in order to ease congestion on one of the state’s most heavily traveled corridors.

The study has been quietly underway even as a group of lawmakers and transportation planners grapple over the future of the 91 Express Lanes, the state’s only private toll road.

The toll lanes have been the subject of intense scrutiny since the failed attempt of its private operators late last year to sell to a nonprofit group of businessmen. Since then, some top officials in Riverside County have pushed for a state buyout of the lanes and even plan to sue Caltrans--the road’s owner--to revoke the contract that made the private road possible.

The study by the Southern California Assn. of Governments should be completed by the end of the year, with a meeting scheduled for next week to discuss details of how the proposal would work.

The chief concept under study would involve converting the existing carpool lanes east of the 91 Express Lanes to toll lanes--allowing those in carpools to ride for free but charging all others a toll. A demonstration project currently underway on Interstate 15 in San Diego County has been closely watched by transportation experts.

The feasibility of bringing the so-called HOT lanes to the Riverside Freeway is one of two such projects under consideration by SCAG. Regional planners are also looking at an area of Interstate 14 near Lancaster.

But any move to extend toll lanes into Riverside County may meet with fierce resistance because of hard feelings toward the California Private Transportation Co., which runs the private toll lanes.

Outrage over the 91 Express Lanes hit a peak last year after revelations that the private group entered into a franchise agreement with the California Department of Transportation that banned for decades improvements to the already bottlenecked freeway.

Calling the concessions a “betrayal of public trust,” the Riverside County Board of Supervisors said it will file a lawsuit against Caltrans on Friday.

“We believe as a result of that betrayal the franchise agreement is null and void, and we think the courts will agree with us,” said Supervisor Tim Mullen.

The action comes as Sacramento lawmakers pursue an independent appraisal of the $120-million lanes that run along 10 miles of the freeway median between the Costa Mesa Freeway and the Riverside-Orange County border. The appraisal, some lawmakers hope, could be the first step toward some sort of public buyout of the road.

Up until now, the SCAG study to extend toll lanes east to Interstate 15 has remained unscathed by the political battle surrounding the private toll road. Those working on what has so far been a collaborative effort wonder what effect the lawsuit will have.

“Let’s just say it makes you dance a little faster,” said Deborah Redman, a senior transportation planner with SCAG and the study’s project leader. “I don’t know what solution to the congestion out there the county supervisors have up their sleeve. In the meantime, the corridor is still there and the commuters are still there.”

Toll-lane officials said Wednesday that they consider the county’s proposed lawsuit a “waste of taxpayers’ money” and question the motivation behind it.

“I think it’s out of frustration that they’re throwing everything but the kitchen sink against the wall to see what will stick,” said Greg Hulsizer, general manager of the 91 Express Lanes. Hulsizer said that past lawsuits filed by Riverside County to invalidate the franchise had failed and he believes the latest one would suffer the same fate.

Furthermore, he said, it was Riverside County’s idea to participate in the study in the first place. Hulsizer said his company contributed $100,000 to the effort because his customers want to see the toll lanes extended.

“It seems a little out of sync that on the one hand they would be railing against the evils of the Express Lanes [while] at the same time looking seriously at doing something similar east of the existing lanes,” Hulsizer said.

Riverside County transportation officials said they are not being hypocritical.

“We started that study well before the [collapsed sale] ripped open a lot of hard feelings and problems,” said Riverside County Transportation Commission spokesman John Standiford. “It might seem inconsistent to be working with [the 91 Express Lanes], but when you consider what we’re up against on the 91, I think it’s responsible to consider every possible option.”

Standiford said that any decision about extending the toll lanes is not likely until far into the future. And Hulsizer said his company is still studying whether such a plan would make good business sense.