State officials on Monday significantly increased the amount of bond money they plan to allocate this year for road projects, including carpool lanes for the heavily congested 405 Freeway though Westwood and the Sepulveda Pass.
The staff of the California Transportation Commission recommended that $4.5 billion in bond funds be earmarked for dozens of projects statewide instead of the $2.8 billion proposed Feb. 16.
The turnabout came after more than a week of protests and heavy lobbying from politicians and commuters, who argued that too many crucial projects were left off the state's original list.
The decision not to widen the northbound 405 between the 10 and 101 freeways became fodder for call-in radio shows, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last week even waded into Wilshire Boulevard traffic handing out fliers to drivers urging them to complain to Sacramento.
"There has been a constant stream of letters, e-mails and faxes. Everyone wants their projects fully funded," said Marian Bergeson, a former Orange County state legislator who heads the transportation commission. "You can't squeeze that much out of $4.5 billion."
Despite the boost in funding, some projects in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys were cut from the list to make room for the new spending recommendations. The final decision lies with the nine-member commission, which will meet Wednesday in Irvine.
In November, voters approved a massive bond package that will eventually provide about $20 billion for transportation projects, and critics of the Feb. 16 proposal had argued that the state needed to move much faster to start fixing gridlocked freeways and roads.
"Boy, that's a testament to strong and coordinated political reaction," said professor Brian Taylor, director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.
The protests were loudest in Los Angeles County, which has 28% of California's population and the most congested highways in the state.
Initially, the state had recommended county projects get less than 12% of the available bond money.
The funding increase would benefit several other regions of Southern California where officials felt shortchanged.
In Riverside County, the state is now recommending spending $134 million out of a total of nearly $173 million to add carpool lanes along the 91 Freeway through Riverside, which like the 405 is one of Southern California's most congested freeways.
