Chamber Keeps Pressure to Build Highway to Economic Recovery

Efforts to relieve traffic congestion and create about 20,000 jobs by widening the 91 freeway are being obstructed – and business leaders should be concerned.

State Route 91 ranks among the most congested freeways in California, keeping dubious company with the I-405 in Los Angeles. It is the only direct highway link between Riverside and Orange County and it is truly the economic artery for Inland Southern California.

However, a Chamber-endorsed state bill meant to speed up major expansion of SR-91 is facing key opposition by the union representing state engineers, Professional Engineers in California Government (PECG).

Under the provisions of Chamber-endorsed Assembly Bill 2098, authored by Assemblymen Kevin Jeffries and Jeff Miller, the public agency, Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) would be the project’s sole administrator and have authority to hire an outside firm to design and build the highway expansion.

Despite major concessions made by RCTC to PECG, their continued opposition is an obstacle in getting AB 2098 through the Legislature, and as a result it is stalling job-creation and delaying our region’s economic recovery.

RCTC’s plan invests $1.2 billion of its own funds to increase vehicle capacity for an existing 14-mile stretch of the 91 freeway and a 6-mile stretch along the 15 freeway. The project boundaries run from the SR-241 Toll Road in Yorba Linda to Pierce Street in the City of Riverside.

The project requires best-value “design-build” however, and that is what AB 2098 allows. In contrast to “design-bid-build,” “design-build” is a construction method where the design and construction aspects are contracted with a single entity. This approach will enable RCTC to speed up the 91 freeway expansion by three years, bring congestion relief, create an estimated 20,000 jobs, and ensure that $1.2 billion in local funds are under the control of local government, not PECG.

As business leaders we know the importance of streamlining the delivery of services and containing costs, that is why the Chamber supports “design-build” – it ensures infrastructure money is spent wisely.

Transit projects are a vehicle to economic recovery, so it is crucial that the special interests stop the negotiation stalemate, and Legislative leaders pass AB 2098 to get Inland Southern California moving again.