Update

Southwest California Legislative Council Chair Joan Sparkman testifies in support of AB 2492 in the State Capitol.

Southwest California Legislative Council Board Member Roger Ziemer testifies in support of AB 2492 in the State Capitol.

State Assemblymember John Benoit (left) briefs the Southwest California delegation of business leaders with Kim Cousins, President and CEO of the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce..

State Assemblymember John Benoit (right) briefs the Southwest California delegation of business leaders who traveled to Sacramento in support of his AB 2492..

AB 2492 attempted to define a "transportation infrastructure emergency" to mean conditions that required extraordinary state action, including, but not limited to, construction of new highways or highway lanes, in order to relieve traffic congestion that presents a severe threat to the safety and economic well-being of any region in the state.
 

AB 2492 failed passage in the State Assembly Transportation Committee on April 24, 2006. Southwest California business leaders representing the Temecula Valley, Murrieta, and Lake Elsinore Valley Chambers of Commerce traveled to Sacramento and voiced their support of AB 2492.

The bill was to provide that a transportation infrastructure emergency could be declared for the purpose of relieving traffic congestion on any highway or segment of a highway for which the Department of Transportation (CalTrans) has determined that the average daily vehicle hours of delay, excluding weekends, exceeds 3,000 vehicle hours.

Most Committee members felt that the Governor or Legislature already had such emergency powers—for real emergencies such as earthquake damages. The consensus was that excessive traffic was not something that should be elevated to a crisis level, nor should such a measurement qualify it for special handling.

The Temecula Valley, Murietta and Lake Elsinore Valley Chambers of Commerce want to thank everyone that made a contribution to the efforts to see this proposal through to law.

AB 2492 In Depth

California is currently experiencing a transportation infrastructure crisis. Over the past 25 years, California has failed to invest in its highway infrastructure. Between 1980 and 2000, the state population has increased by 42% - from just over 24 million to 34 million residents. During the same period, vehicle miles traveled has increased by 97% - from 156 billion to 307 billion miles traveled.

By the year 2025, California’s population is expected to increase by another 44% (to 49 million people) and vehicle miles traveled is expected to increase by another 63%.

Following the Northridge earthquake in 1994, Governor Wilson declared a State of Emergency due to the earthquake and used his powers to suspend or modify certain worker overtime and contracting-out laws and regulations. CalTrans estimated that it would take 18 months to 2 years to rebuild the collapsed Santa Monica freeway under the most accelerated procedures. Governor Wilson declared an Emergency, and the road was rebuilt in 66 days.

Currently, California's transportation corridors are way beyond capacity for the many California workers and their families that must move from home to job, to school, to shopping for essentials, or to needed services on our highways. We are concerned about the ability to get our brave medical emergency and law enforcement personnel to areas of critical need.

We are wasting our natural resources as we sit and idle on our highways. We are polluting our air to the degree that no amount of regulation from AQMD or EPA can solve and we are denigrating our quality of life and our children’s futures with inaction. Necessary and vital supplies to our citizens are bogged down in traffic and tempers are short from the lack of portability. This situation is even more critical with the rapidly escalating cost of fuel.

We are without question in an emergency situation.

We all recognize this as we try to navigate on our highways daily. Please, for the people of California and the health of our state, declare the emergency that we all know exists and allow California to literally and figuratively move ahead in this ever increasing and competitive global environment.

This will persuade new business to locate here and permit existing businesses to stay ensuring the necessary revenue to provide services and education to our people and to maintain the quality of life that we Californians takes such pride in.
 

Comments on AB 2392 From Around California

Seeking end to traffic crisis
Editorial, April 20, 2006

FINALLY, a proposal that could make a big difference in the lives of most every Californian. Assemblyman John J. Benoit's AB 2492 would allow the governor to declare a state of emergency for - are you ready? - traffic congestion. Is that thunderous applause we hear?

During a state of emergency, traffic or otherwise, the governor can suspend any regulatory statute or state regulation that hampers mitigating the effects of the emergency. When it comes to traffic congestion, read: Caltrans.

The bill ought to gain quick passage at its scheduled hearing before the Assembly Transportation Committee on Monday, because it could go a long way toward relieving the worst gridlock in the state.

We nominate the San Gabriel River (605) and San Bernardino (10) freeways interchange in Baldwin Park where 438,000 people dangerously bob and weave daily.

But would that stretch of asphalt qualify under Benoit's plan? Maybe, maybe not, because the proposal is based on delay, not danger.

A former highway patrol commander who well knows how freeway standstill affects motorists, commerce and emergency services, Benoit nonetheless laid down tough qualifying requirements for "emergency" status. Under the Coachella Valley Republican's plan, average daily traffic congestion delay on any highway must exceed 3,000 hours to be eligible for an emergency declaration by the governor.

No small feat. Caltrans considers 2,200 hours of delay to be the worst degree possible, rating a Level F designation. We give it failing marks as well, along with the Santa Ana (5) Freeway bottleneck at Santa Fe Springs/Norwalk. Benoit's legislation, however, sets the bar 50 percent higher.

To drive home the need for such legislation, Benoit gives as example rebuilding a portion of the Santa Monica (10) Freeway that collapsed during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Caltrans estimated it would take up to two years to rebuild the section under accelerated procedures. Because of the earthquake, Gov. Pete Wilson declared a state of emergency and suspended worker overtime and contracting regulations. A private firm was able to rebuild the freeway in 66 days. So far, it's held.

A similar procedure that allows contracting with a single business to design and build highway improvements is speeding construction of a northbound HOV lane on the San Diego (405) Freeway.

Under traditional methods, projects are designed by Caltrans engineers, but construction is contracted out to private industry. Under design-build, the construction firm shoulders the project from design to completion, eliminating the typically long lag time between design and construction.

Monday, a proposal to use design-build on all state highway projects stalled in the Assembly Transportation Committee. Chairwoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Carson, spoke for the committee, saying members would like to evaluate the 405 project upon completion before giving the OK to a "wholesale" process across the state.

Speeding congestion relief on Southern California freeways by whatever methods available is tempting but setting aside rules and regulations also pushes the public aside. What's needed is a streamlined process that maintains public input.

However, if the Legislature and Caltrans don't want control taken away from them, they must do a better job at freeway fixes than the unconscionable delays cited by Benoit in introducing AB 2492. State approval of a single environmental impact report for a Southern California highway project took 10 years. A Bay Area bridge retrofit EIR took more than a decade.

Benoit is right; we have an emergency in our transportation infrastructure and processes. It's past time the Legislature move improvement forward.

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