Octa

Leaders of the six Orange County cities lining the San Diego (405) Freeway between Costa Mesa and the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway have united in opposition to an Orange County Transportation Authority proposal to add toll roads. "The cities have carefully considered the alternatives for the I-405 Freeway expansion in the [environmental reports] and are unified in our opposition to Alternative 3 with Express Lanes," reads a letter signed by the mayors of Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Westminster and the mayor pro tem of Huntington Beach.

Editor's note: The error to which the mayor refers was caused by an editing mistake, which misstated Costa Mesa's position on the proposed San Diego (405) Freeway widening. Re. "OCTA: Focus group favors widening 405," July 28: While I appreciate the Daily Pilot's efforts to bring the 405 issue to light, the newspaper made some very egregious errors regarding my position and that of the Costa Mesa City Council. It is true that we are resolute and unanimous in our position regarding 405 alternatives, and if the Pilot staff had read our resolution, it would have known that the council opposes the Alternative 3 toll lanes and supports Alternative 2, which simply adds two free, general-purpose lanes going both north and south.

Ever since the San Diego (405) Freeway was finished in the Costa Mesa area, we could not understand why the California Department of Transportation did not complete the expansion from the Euclid Street interchange northward to relieve the bottleneck. Now that the plans have been put forth, I am vehemently against Alternative 3 for widening the 405. I do favor the second alternative over the first. I think the voters who passed Measure M had no idea they would be voting in favor of toll lanes for the 405 between the San Gabriel (605)

The city of Costa Mesa is considering legal options to stop the Orange County Transportation Authority from adding toll lanes inside the city limits. "I've been trying to tell OCTA it's not acceptable to Costa Mesa for many, many reasons," said Peter Naghavi, the city's economic development director. "All options, including legal action, are on the table. " Last week the City Council told City Attorney Tom Duarte to investigate legal challenges to an option known as Alternative 3, which would expand sections of the San Diego (405)

Orange County taxpayers are about to be conned out of about $1.3 billion. The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has devised an audacious scheme that would use Measure M2 tax dollars to construct toll lanes on the San Diego (405) Freeway between Seal Beach and Costa Mesa. These lanes will do little to improve congestion, and will primarily benefit only those who are willing and able to pay tolls on top of their share of $600 million in Measure M2 taxes allocated to 405 Freeway improvements.

The public has an extra 15 days to comment on the Orange County Transportation Authority's draft environmental impact report for a proposed widening of the San Diego (405) Freeway. Orange County residents have until July 17 to send their comments to OCTA on the draft EIR, which outlines the potential effects on surrounding communities. OCTA is working with the California Department of Transportation on a proposed $1.3-billion to $1.7-billion renovation that could add two to four lanes on the 405 between the San Gabriel (605)

The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday will consider making official its opposition to a proposed widening of the San Diego (405) Freeway. Officials plan to approve a resolution on the project, which would widen the freeway in certain section of the city, and are looking for community input. It hasn't been a secret that the council, and — for the most part — Costa Mesa residents, has been opposed to the third of three options the Orange County Transportation Authority has presented for alleviating traffic on one of Southern California's busiest freeways.

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.

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.

Next month, the Costa Mesa City Council will take a formal position regarding the proposed controversial expansion of the San Diego (405) Freeway through Costa Mesa. It is critical for the residents to become educated and speak out about what impact this project will have on our city. For those not familiar with the plan, California Department of Transportation and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) are proposing to widen the 405 from the Corona del Mar (73) Freeway, to the San Gabriel River (605)