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O.C. is Moving Forward on Traffic Safety
Orange County Register: Opinion/Letters to the Editor I highly commend the efforts of Ladera Ranch resident Jeff Trice, creator of the Coble Family Benefit Ride ["Rolling Out for a Cause," Local, June 8], and empathize with ride participant Robert Baker. In addition to helping the Coble family, it is hoped the event will help call attention to needed traffic improvements on the southbound I-5 between La Paz and Crown Valley Parkway. In combination with my responsibilities on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, I'm also a director for the Orange County Transportation Authority and chair of the South Orange County Major Investment Study that is identifying solutions to the traffic headaches that plague our area of the county. Over the course of the last few weeks – following the tragic accident that took the lives of the Coble children – I have held extensive meetings with transportation and other governmental stakeholders to identify ways to expedite congestion relief projects that have been on the books, but moving slowly due to technical construction issues and lack of adequate funding. With the help of state and regional transportation leaders, I have been given a preliminary commitment that chokepoint improvement projects will be accelerated at both the Crown Valley and Oso Parkway interchanges with the I-5 Freeway by approving funding advances and accelerating design and construction processes. There are not many easy fixes in a given area and in a number of cases the cost sharing, planning and actual construction also involves oversight by the county of Orange, OCTA and Caltrans. I have been working with the assistance of OCTA staff and recently convened a special meeting with public works department officials from each city in the Fifth District. The goal of this meeting was to discuss and compile an index of all current south Orange County traffic relief projects so we can begin a strong advocacy effort to ensure these regional projects get the funding needed to move them off the books and on to the roads. Patricia C. Bates
Orange County Supervisor, Fifth District
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