BILL ANALYSIS
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 545
Author: Cedillo (D)
Amended: 9/4/09
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/28/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe,
Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hollingsworth, Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 13-0, 5/11/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, DeSaulnier, Hancock,
Leno, Oropeza, Runner, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
SENATE FLOOR : 38-0, 5/26/09
AYES: Alquist, Ashburn, Benoit, Calderon, Cedillo,
Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham, DeSaulnier,
Ducheny, Dutton, Florez, Hancock, Harman, Hollingsworth,
Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete
McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley, Romero, Runner,
Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Walters, Wiggins, Wolk,
Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 57-8, 9/11/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Freeway construction
SOURCE : Author
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DIGEST : This bill prohibits the Interstate 710 freeway
gap closure project from being constructed as a surface or
above-grade highway.
Assembly Amendments provide that cut and cover construction
technology may be used only at the entrance and exit
portals, the portals are not to encroach upon the City of
South Pasadena, and the northern portal is not to be
constructed south of Palmetto Drive in the City of Pasadena
an provide, however, that cut and cover may be used where
needed for tunnel ventilation structures, emergency exits,
and any other required mitigation measures.
ANALYSIS : There have been proposed several surface
alignments of this unconstructed segment of the Interstate
710 (I- 710) freeway since it was first included in the
state highway system in 1963. The proposed alignments have
engendered substantial community opposition.
Existing law:
1. Requires the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to
enter into an agreement prior to any closure of a city
street or county highway due to construction of a
freeway with a city council or board of supervisors
having jurisdiction.
2. Provides an exception to those provisions for a freeway
segment within the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), if
specified requirements have been met, including that an
agreement with one or more counties and cities is not
possible because an impasse has existed for 10 or more
years after an initial route was adopted.
3. Establishes State Highway Route (SR) 710 from SR 210 in
Pasadena.
This bill:
1. Modifies the terms of an exception to existing law that
otherwise requires Caltrans to secure a freeway
agreement with a city or county prior to constructing a
freeway if construction requires closure of local
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streets; as modified, the exception only applies to a
segment of freeway that consists solely of a subsurface
transportation facility.
2. Provides, specifically, that the subsurface
transportation facility must be a tunnel with the
alignment to be determined by Caltrans after completion
of environmental studies.
3. Provides that cut and cover construction technology may
be used only at the entrance and exit portals, the
portals are not to encroach upon the City of South
Pasadena, and the northern portal is not to be
constructed south of Palmetto Drive in the City of
Pasadena; provides, however, that cut and cover may be
used where needed for tunnel ventilation structures,
emergency exits, and any other required mitigation
measures.
4. Declares, statutorily, that I-710 between Valley
Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles and Del Mar
Boulevard in the City of Pasadena will not be a surface
or above-grade highway.
Background
For over nearly fifty years, alternative concepts have been
proposed and evaluated to complete the I-710 freeway and
close the 4.5 mile gap in the corridor. To date, none of
the previously proposed and evaluated surface alternatives
has successfully addressed community concerns. These
traditional freeway concepts traversed through highly
developed urbanized neighborhoods of Los Angeles, Alhambra,
South Pasadena, and Pasadena, requiring such large amounts
of right-of-way that they were unacceptable to the
communities in the corridor. In response to the community
objections, a tunnel concept was proposed for assessment as
a potential option to the surface freeway alternatives.
Recent Los Angeles County sales tax includes funding for
project . Last November, Los Angeles County voters approved
a thirty-year local transportation sales tax. AB 2321
(Feuer), Chapter 302, Statutes of 2008, authorized the
placement of this sales tax increase before the voters.
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When the voters approved the tax as Measure R, they also
approved an expenditure plan of specific projects for which
the tax revenue must be used. The expenditure plan
identified explicitly $780 million, about 21 percent of the
estimated project cost, for the I-710 tunnel project. The
approval of the sales tax placed the project into MTA's
thirty-year county transportation plan.
The extension is included in regional transportation plan .
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG),
the federally designated metropolitan planning organization
for Southern California, has included the project in the
regional transportation plan since 1989 and in the regional
transportation improvement program, the multimodal
transportation capital outlay program for the region, since
1991. The project was included in the plan, according to
SCAG, because it relieves heavy traffic congestion on the
surface streets of the cities in the corridor and, in so
doing, contributes to the plan achieving conformity with
federal and state air quality standards.
Initial studies underway . In order to have a comprehensive
base of geotechnical information regarding the corridor
prior to initiating the environmental analysis and
preliminary engineering, Caltrans has retained an
engineering firm to undertake a detailed analysis of the
subsurface geology in the corridor. The study will be
completed in the fall of this year, and after that
benchmark is met, Caltrans and MTA will decide whether to
proceed with the environmental analysis. Several issues
will be examined during the environmental analysis,
including alternative underground alignments for the
tunnel, project financing, and the disposition of several
dozen homes, many of which are historic, that were acquired
by Caltrans several years ago in anticipation of
constructing a surface facility.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
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Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
Limiting construction
potentially hundreds of millions in
Special*
Options cost pressures to the extent
that a less expensive option is
available
and feasible
*State Highway Account
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/10/09)
California State Council of Laborers
City of Alhambra
City of South Pasadena
International Union of Operating Engineers
State Building and Construction Trades Councils of
California
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Beall, Tom Berryhill, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Coto, Davis, De La
Torre, De Leon, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Lieu, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nielsen,
John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Ruskin, Salas, Skinner,
Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Blakeslee, DeVore, Fuller, Hill,
Logue, Portantino
NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Bill Berryhill, Block, Cook,
Gaines, Garrick, Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Krekorian,
Nestande, Niello, Saldana, Silva, Vacancy
JJA:do 9/14/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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