Orange County Transportation Authority

The state's top transportation official has been hired to direct the Orange County Transportation Authority, a job that comes with a much larger salary and, perhaps, a lot less frustration. Will Kempton has headed the California Department of Transportation for the last five years, overseeing 50,000 miles of state highways and directing $10 billion worth of transportation projects. He was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to steer the state's $14-billion transportation budget.

It wasn't that long ago that Orange County's public transit system was named best in the country. Just 2005, in fact. The Orange County Transportation Authority was lauded for its service to the nation's fifth most populous county, logging a record number of bus trips and ridership growth. The agency was leading the way in green technology, the economy was booming and sales-tax revenue was pouring in. OCTA officials celebrated the honor by plastering a gold-medal logo, with their new bragging rights printed across it, onto the agency's 947 buses.

OK, it's understandable. Transportation planners need the surety of a good clock. After all, hundreds of employees need to be accurately clocked-in if the buses in Orange County are to run on time. But $457,280 for a new timepiece system to keep tabs on bus mechanics? It's a question that surfaced Thursday at an Orange County Transportation Authority committee meeting. "I'm trying to get my arms around why we're paying $125,000 just for the software. . . .

Transportation officials are so intent on building a toll road through south Orange County that they refuse to remove it from long-range plans, even though a powerful state commission has vetoed the route. Frustrated environmentalists and others said this week that the Orange County Transportation Authority's reluctance to change its assumption that the Foothill South tollway through San Onofre State Beach will be built amounts to "putting their head in the sand."

As Orange County transportation planners look to the future, they want cities to help find innovative ways to encourage motorists to forsake their beloved cars and embrace mass transit. Cities were given $100,000 each for ideas to shuttle riders from Metrolink stations to residential areas, major employers, resort areas and shopping malls. To the planners' chagrin, however, most cities wanted trolleys, shuttles or "fun buses" that rely on rubber-tire technology.

A look at some upcoming news events: Address: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivers the annual State of the City address. Earthquake: Representatives of the Southern California Earthquake Center, the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Geologic Survey report new earthquake probabilities for the state. Monday O.C. bus service: The Orange County Transportation Authority will hold a hearing on proposed route changes.

Inside Tom W. Bogard's office, maps are everywhere. They help the highway director for the Orange County Transportation Authority see the future -- or at least where the next caution signs for construction will be posted. Over the next five years, Bogard and his counterparts in neighboring counties will act as railroad yardmasters, coordinating projects to relieve congestion so they are spaced apart and done mostly at night, so commuters can avoid delays.

Six months ago, Orange County transit officials sat down to develop a plan to address a potential nationwide fuel crisis. The worst-case scenario? Gasoline selling for $4.50 a gallon. "Our worst-case is now emerging as our best-case scenario," Art Leahy, chief executive of the Orange County Transportation Authority, recently told KNX-AM (1070) radio. OCTA operates about 475 buses that carry 225,000 riders daily; Metrolink carries an additional 11,000 daily riders in the county.

Transportation planners today approved an agreement with Lehman Bros. and others to evaluate whether the bond debt for the 91 Freeway toll lanes in Orange County needs to be refinanced. The action was prompted after the bond insurer for the 91 Express Lanes debt was downgraded by several credit agencies. As a result, the interest rates on the bonds have increased and are now costing the Orange County Transportation Authority, which operates the toll lanes, $30,000 a week, an OCTA official said.

A look at upcoming events: Today Freeway noise: The Orange County Transportation Authority considers a report on the noise-reduction effectiveness of rubberized asphalt rather than sound walls on a stretch of the Garden Grove Freeway. Tuesday Capistrano trial: A jury trial is set for former Capistrano Unified Supt. James Fleming and former Assistant Supt. Susan McGill in connection with their alleged compiling of an "enemies" list of people supporting a recall of district trustees in 2005.