710 Freeway

Summary

In the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) adopted 2001 Long Range Transportation Plan, the 710 Freeway is listed as the top priority Strategic project that will receive funding when the MTA identifies additional funding resources. As part of the modeling of projects for the 2001 Long Range Transportation Plan, MTA staff identified the 710 Freeway as having much more congestion relief benefit than any other highway project studied in the MTA plan. Although the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) shows the 710 Freeway as a fully fundable project, the MTA plan lists the 710 Freeway as a project still awaiting a specific funding source. Because of the inconsistency between the MTA and SCAG plans, the MTA must work in the next few years to identify new funding sources and move the 710 Freeway into a fully-funded status to match the SCAG plan.

The Details

The Long Range Transportation Planning Process

About every 5 years, the MTA prepares a Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). Although such a plan is not required of the MTA by any federal or state law, the MTA Board engages in the long range planning process in order to identify important transportation projects on the 20-25 year horizon as part of its planning and programming function. The adopted MTA LRTP helps guide (but does not dictate) MTA Board decision making as various transportation projects complete the planning and environmental process.

The MTA Planning Process includes the following steps:

1. Adopt a Statement of Vision, Mission, Goals, and Strategic Direction for the agency.

2. Adopt how it will use modeling performance to evaluate the effectiveness of projects. The 2001 Plan evaluated various plans based upon a) increased mobility, b) cost-effectiveness, c) air quality improvement, d) access, and e) community impact.

3. Adopt the Baseline Transportation System. The Baseline System is the existing transportation system in Los Angeles County plus those projects committed to by the MTA Board in previous policy decisions.

4. Using current population, employment, and travel demand figures, run computer models showing the performance of the transportation system with just the Baseline System in place.

5. Determine greatest demand for improvements or projects with greatest benefit.

6. Develop several plans of possible transportation projects that could be afforded within the projected future revenues of the MTA.

7. Select the plan with the "most transportation improvement for the buck."

8. Identify priority Strategic Plan projects that should be funded as new revenues are found.

710 Freeway is Most Beneficial Project in Los Angeles County

For major highway projects like the 710 Freeway, the MTA staff also modeled the transportation benefits of individual projects. The MTA modeling demonstrated that the 710 Freeway would reduce travel time for Los Angeles commuters by 3,169,920 hours per year. In comparison, the closest project in terms of benefit was the I-5 widening and HOV project from Rosemead Blvd. to the 710 Freeway. That project would reduce travel time by 1,877,120 hours per year or only about two-thirds of the benefit of the 710 Freeway Gap Closure Project. Thus, the MTA’s own modeling showed that the 710 Freeway Project had by far the greatest positive travel congestion (and by implication air quality) benefits than any other project remaining to be completed in Los Angeles County.

710 Freeway is in the 2001 Strategic Portion of the LRTP

Despite the incredibly high transportation performance of the 710 Freeway Project on MTA’s own performance measures, the 710 Project was not placed in the fundable category of the 2001 Long Range Plan. Rather, the 710 Freeway was included in the 2001 LRTP, but in a special category designated the "Strategic Plan." The MTA cited the lack of available funding as the main reason for not including the 710 Project in the fundable "Constrained Plan." Thus, the 710 Project is included in 2001 LRTP as a priority transportation project and it awaits the identification of more funding.

MTA is Working to Make its LRTP Consistent with the SCAG Plan
The Regional Transportation Plan, the 710 Freeway Project shows the 710 Freeway Project as a fully fundable project by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). The Regional Transportation Plan, is the key planning document that drives regional funding of the Transportation Improvement Program. Projects in the Regional Transportation Plan are eligible to receive federal and state transportation funds that are allocated in the Transportation Improvement Program.

It is unclear what the significance is of the 710 Freeway Project being shown as fully funded in the 2001 Regional Transportation Plan and not yet funded but a priority in the MTA LRTP. The staffs of MTA, SCAG and Caltrans continue to work on development of a funding plan for the 710 Project at the MTA. The process must be speeded up so that the MTA’s highest performing transportation project is also included in the MTA’s fundable plan. Until this is accomplished, this inconsistency undermines the credibility of the MTA’s 2001 LRTP.


	MTA LONG RANGE PLAN Summary In the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) adopted 2001 Long Range Transportation Plan, the 710 Freeway is listed as the top priority Strategic project that will receive funding when the MTA identifies additional funding resources. As part of the modeling of projects for the 2001 Long Range Transportation Plan, MTA staff identified the 710 Freeway as having much more congestion relief benefit than any other highway project studied in the MTA plan. Although the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) shows the 710 Freeway as a fully fundable project, the MTA plan lists the 710 Freeway as a project still awaiting a specific funding source. Because of the inconsistency between the MTA and SCAG plans, the MTA must work in the next few years to identify new funding sources and move the 710 Freeway into a fully-funded status to match the SCAG plan. The Details The Long Range Transportation Planning Process About every 5 years, the MTA prepares a Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). Although such a plan is not required of the MTA by any federal or state law, the MTA Board engages in the long range planning process in order to identify important transportation projects on the 20-25 year horizon as part of its planning and programming function. The adopted MTA LRTP helps guide (but does not dictate) MTA Board decision making as various transportation projects complete the planning and environmental process. The MTA Planning Process includes the following steps: 1. Adopt a Statement of Vision, Mission, Goals, and Strategic Direction for the agency. 2. Adopt how it will use modeling performance to evaluate the effectiveness of projects. The 2001 Plan evaluated various plans based upon a) increased mobility, b) cost-effectiveness, c) air quality improvement, d) access, and e) community impact. 3. Adopt the Baseline Transportation System. The Baseline System is the existing transportation system in Los Angeles County plus those projects committed to by the MTA Board in previous policy decisions. 4. Using current population, employment, and travel demand figures, run computer models showing the performance of the transportation system with just the Baseline System in place. 5. Determine greatest demand for improvements or projects with greatest benefit. 6. Develop several plans of possible transportation projects that could be afforded within the projected future revenues of the MTA. 7. Select the plan with the "most transportation improvement for the buck." 8. Identify priority Strategic Plan projects that should be funded as new revenues are found. 710 Freeway is Most Beneficial Project in Los Angeles County For major highway projects like the 710 Freeway, the MTA staff also modeled the transportation benefits of individual projects. The MTA modeling demonstrated that the 710 Freeway would reduce travel time for Los Angeles commuters by 3,169,920 hours per year. In comparison, the closest project in terms of benefit was the I-5 widening and HOV project from Rosemead Blvd. to the 710 Freeway. That project would reduce travel time by 1,877,120 hours per year or only about two-thirds of the benefit of the 710 Freeway Gap Closure Project. Thus, the MTA’s own modeling showed that the 710 Freeway Project had by far the greatest positive travel congestion (and by implication air quality) benefits than any other project remaining to be completed in Los Angeles County. 710 Freeway is in the 2001 Strategic Portion of the LRTP Despite the incredibly high transportation performance of the 710 Freeway Project on MTA’s own performance measures, the 710 Project was not placed in the fundable category of the 2001 Long Range Plan. Rather, the 710 Freeway was included in the 2001 LRTP, but in a special category designated the "Strategic Plan." The MTA cited the lack of available funding as the main reason for not including the 710 Project in the fundable "Constrained Plan." Thus, the 710 Project is included in 2001 LRTP as a priority transportation project and it awaits the identification of more funding. MTA is Working to Make its LRTP Consistent with the SCAG Plan The Regional Transportation Plan, the 710 Freeway Project shows the 710 Freeway Project as a fully fundable project by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). The Regional Transportation Plan, is the key planning document that drives regional funding of the Transportation Improvement Program. Projects in the Regional Transportation Plan are eligible to receive federal and state transportation funds that are allocated in the Transportation Improvement Program. It is unclear what the significance is of the 710 Freeway Project being shown as fully funded in the 2001 Regional Transportation Plan and not yet funded but a priority in the MTA LRTP. The staffs of MTA, SCAG and Caltrans continue to work on development of a funding plan for the 710 Project at the MTA. The process must be speeded up so that the MTA’s highest performing transportation project is also included in the MTA’s fundable plan. Until this is accomplished, this inconsistency undermines the credibility of the MTA’s 2001 LRTP.