Summary

The 710 Gap Closure Project has been included in every SCAG Regional Transportation Plan ("RTP") since 1976 when the first plan was prepared. In the adopted 2001 RTP, the 710 Gap Closure remains fully funded as one of three regionally significant projects essential to Southern California.

The Details

SCAG is Responsible for Transportation Planning

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is a regional Council of Governments comprising all of the cities and counties within the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Imperial counties. SCAG is also designated under federal law and regulations to be the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Southern California region. Each MPO in the United States is responsible under federal law for preparing transportation planning documents.

The primary transportation planning document is the Regional Transportation Plan(RTP). The RTP is a long-range vision of where the region will make investments of federal, state and local dollars in transportation infrastructure. The RTP is a consensus document that represents the region-wide view of the public interest in transportation. The Regional Council of elected officials reviews the plan and determines what projects and strategies are in the interest of the whole region for construction during the planning period. The planning period of an RTP is at least 20 years into the future.

Federal law first required the preparation of an RTP in 1976. Today, the RTP is revised and updated every three years to assure that it still represents the transportation vision of the elected officials in the region. The 710 Freeway Gap Closure project was included in the first RTP in 1976 and has appeared as a priority project in every RTP prepared since then.

Sub-Regional Councils of Government

The transportation planning process is a bottom up process. Cities nominate projects to their own sub-regional Council of Governments. For the 710 Freeway, the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments is the sub-regional unit. For decades, the San Gabriel Valley COG has included the 710 Gap Closure project in all transportation planning documents in its region. Most recently, in June 2000, the San Gabriel Valley COG nominated the 710 Gap Closure as a high priority project for the sub-region by an overwhelming vote of 29 of its 30 cities with only South Pasadena dissenting. Additionaly, the Central City COG and the City of Los Angeles designate the 710 Freeway as a sub-regional priority.

County Transportation Commission Plans and Recommendations

Taking the recommendations from the sub-regional COGs, the various county transportation commissions in the region incorporate the sub-regional recommendations into the county transportation plan for recommendation to SCAG. In Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) prepares what is known as the Long Range Plan. Although this plan is not required by law, the MTA updates and revises its plan as part of the inputs into the SCAG RTP.

The county transportation commissions, and especially the MTA, use the recommendations of the sub-regional COGs to compile the list of countywide transportation projects and strategies. After completion of its planning process, each county transportation commission forwards its plan or recommendations to SCAG for inclusion in the SCAG RTP.

The federal planning process contemplates a locally generated and agreed upon list of projects and strategies to assure federal transportation funds are spent on the highest priority projects and the RTP is the vision document assembled through this complex consensus building process.

On May 24, 2001, the MTA Board of Directors included the 710 Project in its 2001 Long Range Plan. The MTA's analysis concluded that the 710 project reduces congestion and hours of delay by more than three times any other transportation project in its plan.