Octa

The Newport Beach City Council revised its stance on the 19th Street Bridge controversy Tuesday night, deciding to try negotiating with the Orange County Transportation Authority before filing a lawsuit. The council unanimously approved having City Manager Dave Kiff seek an agreement with the OCTA to pause the statute of limitations on a civil suit while the two sides "try to resolve disputes without the need for litigation," City Attorney Aaron Harp said. The council took a second vote authorizing Harp to file a lawsuit against the OCTA before the statute of limitations runs out. That vote was 5 to 2, with council members Keith Curry and Leslie Daigle dissenting.

The Newport Beach City Council will have a chance to vote publicly at its regular meeting Tuesday on whether to sue the Orange County Transportation Authority, after some dispute over whether or not it has already done so. The confusion centers in part on a public statement issued Tuesday by City Attorney Aaron Harp seeking to clarify the accuracy of a Daily Pilot opinion column, which stated that the council voted to sue OCTA. A few days prior to that, Harp had sent an email to a community activist stating there was a 6-1 vote to sue. The "vote" was reported by Daily Pilot columnist Jack Wu, based on that email.

The proposed bridge once thought to be off the table that would link Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach is back. Orange County Transportation Authority board members voted 17 to 0 Monday to pull back deleting the 19th Street Bridge from the county's master plan. Huntington Beach Mayor Don Hansen made the motion, to which County Supervisor John Moorlach seconded. Supervisor Janet Nguyen abstained. The change, however, may only be temporary, OCTA officials said. The board is expected to take up the issue again within six months, after OCTA staff work on a traffic study with the county, the California Department of Transportation, and the cities of Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

Marisa O'Neil Starting this week, UC Irvine students can get on the bus -- free. Orange County Transportation Authority and UCI on Thursday announced the U-Pass program that lets students take the bus to school, or anywhere else, free. All they need is their current student identification card. "This is your ticket to freedom," said OCTA board member Chris Norby, clutching a student identification card at the kick-off rally. "Freedom from gas stations, freedom from parking, freedom from car insurance payments, freedom to read a book on the way to class."

If the Orange County Transportation Authority doesn't widen the San Diego (405) Freeway in Costa Mesa, an existing bottleneck could relocate from Fountain Valley to Costa Mesa, transportation officials said Tuesday. In his update to the Costa Mesa City Council about OCTA's three scenarios to improve the 405, project manager Niall Barrett said extending the project into the section south of Euclid Street onto the Corona del Mar (73) Freeway is the best option to manage congestion.

The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has devised an audacious scheme, and its spin-off, "alternatives 3 and 3-A," would use billions of Measure M2 freeway congestion-improvement tax dollars to construct toll lanes on the San Diego (405) Freeway between Seal Beach and Costa Mesa. And, curiously, Alternative 3-A was rolled out after the public comment period was formally closed, eliminating the opportunity to officially analyze and comment on the new proposal. These taxpayer-funded toll lanes will primarily benefit only those who are willing and able to pay tolls, in addition to their share of billions in Measure M2 taxes allocated to 405 improvements.

Costa Mesa City Council members will consider tonight what position to take on the Orange County Transportation Authority’s plans for reducing traffic at the end of the 55 Freeway. A recent OCTA study ruled out a few methods of alleviating congestion on the stretch of road, like continuing the freeway by building a bridge over Newport Boulevard or diverting it through Eastside neighborhoods, and it pinpointed a few other alternatives it would like to examine in more depth.

COSTA MESA — Spurred by low fares and admission discounts, a record number of riders took a dedicated bus to the 2011 OC Fair, the Orange County Transportation Authority said. The OCTA-operated OC Fair Express transported 25,669 riders over the course of the summer fair, compared with 6,161 in 2008. The shuttle was not operated in 2009 and 2010, due to funding cutbacks, OCTA spokesman Joel Zlotnik said Wednesday. The service, which started in 2006, was able to resume under a $211,000 grant provided by the Mobile Source Air Pollution Review Committee.

Costa Mesa residents jammed an Orange County Transportation Authority informational meeting this week, saying they had strong concerns about widening the San Diego (405) Freeway for the second time in a decade and the possibility of proposed toll lanes. In turn, transportation officials argued that such improvements were necessary to keep from pushing future traffic congestion south to Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Three years ago, Costa Mesa commuters drove around a $7-million project to rebuild the Fairview Road bridge, and years before that, acquiesced to a $50-million project on the freeway that took more than three years to complete.

It is heating up here in Newport Beach as proponents of the "City Hall in the Park" initiative gather their signatures. Meanwhile, the City Council majority is getting plans ready to build a $5 million passive park on the same site. City Councilman Keith Curry, who penned a column against the initiative, called me to discuss our differences on the issue. Before I talk about our differences, let me say Curry is an engaging advocate for not locating the City Hall next to the library on Avocado Avenue.