City of Los Alamitos

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1 City of Los Alamitos Agenda Report August 18, 2014, Consent Calendar Item No: 8F To: Mayor Gerri L. Graham- Mejia & Members of the City Council From: Subject: Bret M. Plumlee, City Manager Resolution of Opposition to High Occupancy Toll ( HOT) Lanes on the Improvement Project Summary: The possibility of High Occupancy Toll ( HOT) lanes on the is again up for discussion with Orange County Transit Authority ( OCTA) after the option was voted down in This report provides an opportunity for the City Council to reaffirm its opposition regarding HOT Lanes. Recommendation: Adopt Resolution No , entitled " A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LOS ALAMITOS, CALIFORNIA, OPPOSING IMPLEMENTATION OF TOLL LANES ON AND ALL OTHER ORANGE COUNTY FREEWAYS WITHOUT A VOTE OF THE ENTIRE ORANGE COUNTY ELECTORATE." Background The EIR/ EIS for the Improvement Project evaluated three build alternatives and the No- Build Alternative. The three build alternatives consist of the following: Alternative 1 Add one general purpose or mixed flow lane in each direction on the between Euclid Street and the freeway. ( Cost = $ 1. 3 billion) Alternative 2 Add two general purpose or mixed flow lanes in each direction on the between Euclid Street and the freeway. ( Cost = $ 1. 4 billion) Alternative 3 Add one general purpose lane in each direction from Euclid to I- 605 and also add one High Occupancy Toll ( HOT) lane/ Express toll lane in each direction from SR- 73 to SR- 22 east and convert the existing High Occupancy Vehicle ( HOV) lane in each direction to a HOT lane creating two HOT/ Express toll lanes in each direction on the between SR- 73 and ( Cost = $ 1. 7 billion)

2 All three build alternatives have similar partial right-of-way acquisitions but no full takes. Alternative 3 requires a 10' right-of-way acquisition along the freeway frontage of Mike Thompson RV ( City owned) property that isn' t required in any other alternative. Alternatives 2 and 3 provide significantly more improvements in travel time and congestion relief than Alternative 1. While Alternative 3 may provide the greatest amount of " throughput" in the corridor, Alternative 2 provides more general purpose capacity than any of the build alternatives and does so without requiring motorists to pay a toll to realize this benefit. There is a reduction in travel time savings in the general purpose lanes in Alternative 3 versus Alternative 2. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2016 and continue through Recently, Caltrans made a determination that Alternative 3, the toll lane option, would be carried forward as the preferred alternative for construction. This action is in direct conflict with the Corridor Agencies' locally preferred alternative of constructing general purpose and HOV lanes to provide the most transportation relief as possible without requiring the paying of tolls. Consistent with the City of Fountain Valley' s prior position regarding improvements to the and considering all factors, including cost, transportation benefit, benefits and impacts to Fountain Valley, and the corridor overall, staff is recommending that the City Council adopt a resolution opposing toll lanes on and all other Orange County freeways without a vote of the entire Orange County electorate. Discussion Over the past several years, the Orange County Transportation Authority ( OCTA), the State of California Department of Transportation ( Caltrans) and the cities adjacent to the corridor from SR- 73 to have been working on the Freeway Improvement Project. Improvement of the is the signature project of the renewed Measure M2 freeway program. The project, which began as a Major Investment Study MIS) evaluating several alternatives, is now in the final environmental stages with certification by the State as the remaining discretionary approval. This is anticipated to take place in early Project Costs The initial estimate for Alternative 1, which was based upon very preliminary engineering analysis that was utilized in the Measure M2 ballot measure language, was 600 million. Measure M2, as approved by the voters in November 2006, commits to construct Alternative 1. as follows: The current estimated costs for the three build alternatives are Alternative 1 - $ 1. 3 billion Alternative 2 - $ 1. 4 billion Alternative 3 - $ 1. 7 billion Oppose Toll Lanes August 18, 2014 Page 2 of 4

3 Alternative 1, as outlined in the voter information utilized in the passage of Measure M2, always included the demolition and reconstruction to the Master Plan of Arterial Highway ( MPAH) standards of all of the bridges along the corridor. This commitment was an important element for the local agencies, like Fountain Valley, along the corridor in their consideration of their support for Measure M2. The current cost estimates reflect not only the mainline improvements and the demolition and reconstruction of the numerous bridges along the corridor, but also the cost to improve several of the freeway to arterial interchanges, the cost of betterdefined right- of-way impacts, and in the case of Alternative 3, the additional cost to potentially extend the improvements to directly connect to SR- 73 and the infrastructure necessary for toll collections. Right-Of-Way Impacts Each of the three build alternatives has right-of-way impacts and braided ramp impacts along the entire corridor; however, in no case are Los Alamitos property owners directly impacted. Prior Actions On October 22, 2012, and again on December 9, 2013, the OCTA Board approved Alternative 1, the Measure M project, as the Locally Preferred Alternative ( LPA). After OCTA adopted Alternative 1 as its LPA, new federal legislation included in " Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century" ( MAP 21) required that states that allow Inherently Low Emission Vehicles ( ilevs) that have degraded operations in the HOV lanes must include a plan to mitigate degradation. To avoid being classified in a state of degradation, HOV lanes must operate at 45 mph during the peak hours for 90% of the time for six continuous months between SR-73 and does not meet this criterion and, therefore, is considered to be in a state of degradation. This requires Caltrans to address the degradation of the HOV lanes. This can be done in a number of ways, including constructing additional HOV lanes, incorporating HOT ( toll) lane strategies, converting the existing HOV lane from a 2+ riding free to a single HOT ( toll) lane wherein only cars containing 3+ drivers can ride free of tolls, or other combinations or variations of these strategies. When it became apparent that Caltrans was not going to support the Corridor Agencies' preferred alternative, Alternative No. 2, or OCTA Board LPA of Alternative 1, the Corridor Agencies recommended that the improvements to be built include one additional general purpose lane ( Alternative 1 - the OCTA locally preferred alternative and Measure M project) and one additional HOV lane bringing the total HOV lanes to two in each direction. This has been referred to informally as Alternative 4" by the Corridor Agencies. The additional HOV lane would address the degradation issue. It is the understanding of the Corridor Agencies that this proposal was well received by Caltrans; however, funding for the additional HOV lane, which is estimated to cost $ 100 million, was cited as an obstacle for implementation. Oppose Toll Lanes August 18, 2014 Page 3 of 4

4 Recent Actions On July 25, 2014, Caltrans made a determination that Alternative 3, the toll lane option, would be recommended and carried forward through the final environmental documentation as the preferred alternative to the improvements on The Cities of Seal Beach, Westminster and Costa Mesa have all recently adopted a similar version of the proposed resolution opposing toll lanes on and all other Orange County freeways without a vote of the Orange County electorate. Current Project Schedule Caltrans is expected to finalize and certify the environmental document in early Construction of the project is anticipated to commence in spring 2016 and last through Fiscal Impact None. Submitted and Approved By: Bret M. Plumlee City Manager Attachment: 1. Resolution Oppose Toll Lanes August 18, 2014 Page 4 of 4

5 Attachment 1 RESOLUTION NO A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LOS ALAMITOS, CALIFORNIA, OPPOSING IMPLEMENTATION OF TOLL LANES ON AND ALL OTHER ORANGE COUNTY FREEWAYS WITHOUT A VOTE OF THE ENTIRE ORANGE COUNTY ELECTORATE WHEREAS, the Orange County Transportation Authority ( OCTA) in association with the State of California Department of Transportation ( Caltrans) and the cities adjacent to the Freeway Corridor between the SR- 73 and freeways, has been working on the Freeway Improvement Project; and, WHEREAS, there continues to be a strong push to implement High Occupancy Toll ( HOT) lanes by converting existing High Occupancy Vehicle ( HOV) lanes to HOT Lanes requiring the paying of tolls to use previously non- toll lanes; and, WHEREAS, toll lanes only increase vehicle throughput in the Express toll lanes at the expense of vehicle capacity in the general purpose or mixed flow lanes; and, WHEREAS, the voters of Orange County approved Measure M2 without approving conversion of existing freeway facilities to toll lanes; and, WHEREAS, polling of the voters of Orange County prior to placing Measure M2 on the ballot indicated that Measure M2 would not have passed had it included toll lanes or conversion of existing freeway facilities to toll lanes; and, WHEREAS, any construction of new toll lanes or conversion of existing freeway lanes to toll lanes should be required to be placed on a ballot to allow the voters of Orange County to voice their opinion regarding toll lanes; and, WHEREAS, the City agrees with OCTA that this is possibly the only chance in decades to improve the corridor between SR- 73 and 1-605, and because of this is a rare opportunity, the City believes the socially, economically, and politically responsible action is to construct the greatest transportation improvements that best utilize taxpayer funds without requiring motorists to pay tolls to use portions of the improvements constructed, which would be the case under Alternative No. 3. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LOS ALAMITOS DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The City Council of the City of Los Alamitos, California, finds that the above recitals are true and correct. SECTION 2. Opposes toll lanes on the freeway and any freeway in Orange County without a vote of the Orange County electorate.

6 SECTION 3. The City Clerk shall certify as to the adoption of this Resolution. PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED this 18th day of August, Gerri L. Graham- Mejia, Mayor ATTEST: Windmera Quintanar, CMC, City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: Cary S. Reisman, City Attorney STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF ORANGE CITY OF LOS ALAMITOS ) ) ss I, Windmera Quintanar, CMC, City Clerk, of the City of Los Alamitos, do hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the 18th day of August, 2014, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: Windmera Quintanar, CMC, City Clerk CC RESO Page 2 of 2