Whether the staggering state budget deficit is greater than $20 billion or $30 billion, statewide transportation cuts will add up to about $1.7 billion through the next fiscal year. Chances are excellent that the cuts will jeopardize at least one project in Orange County and the Southern California region that will directly affect daily trips to destinations important to you.
This wake-up call is forcing us to look beyond Sacramento to close the transportation financing gap. We need to find new ways to finance transportation projects that will move people, goods and vehicles as well as provide stable funding for already underfunded maintenance and improvements.
Southern California and Orange County in particular have been leaders in thinking outside the box when it comes to financing major transportation projects. In fact, Orange County is one of the most visionary regions in the country in terms of using innovative financing tools.
For example, in the mid-1980s, with state coffers running dry, the Transportation Corridor Agencies formed to plan, finance, build and operate a 67-mile public toll-road system now known as the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor and the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor.
About the same time, a privately owned and operated toll road was created -- the 91 Express Lanes. While a controversial noncompetition clause prohibited additional congestion-relieving improvements along the Riverside Freeway, the fact remains that none of the projects could have been built without the use of nontraditional financing tools that called for user fees or tolls.
Currently, the Orange County Transportation Authority and Placentia are collaborating with the Orange North American Trade Rail Access Corridor Authority to enhance speed, safety and mobility by eliminating 11 railroad crossings along one of the busiest freight corridors in the nation.
To fund much of this $500-million project, the agencies are working with federal officials to create innovative financing measures. One method under consideration is using a portion of the growth in custom revenue to expand and improve the nation's trade-related transportation infrastructure.
This revenue could be placed into a rail trust fund that would be dedicated to transit and rail freight movement across the United States. This fund would also provide a revenue stream for commuter rail agencies such as Metrolink.
