Money in hand for new 91 Freeway lane, from Corona’s Green River Road to 241 toll road
A transportation agency has enough money to build three crucial projects on the 91 Freeway in Corona — including a westbound lane connecting Green River Road to the 241 toll road — with or without a coveted $75 million federal grant, officials say.
Anne Mayer, the Riverside County Transportation Commission’s executive director, has told a panel of Riverside County and Orange County officials that she expects to build the 91 lane largely with surplus revenue collected from the new toll lanes in Corona.
That means construction of the $42 million lane will move forward if the agency’s board makes it a “high priority” next month when it adopts a long-range plan for Riverside County projects.
John Standiford, the commission’s deputy executive director, said the agency aims to launch construction in fall 2020 and finish by the end of 2021.
Matt Olsen, a Corona resident who commutes to Orange County four days a week, said he attended the June 7 meeting at Corona City Hall where Mayer spoke and was pleasantly surprised.
“It’s not going to fix the problem,” Olsen said But, he said, “the alternative is doing nothing.”
Olsen said the lane should take some pressure off both the freeway and Green River Road during the notorious morning rush-hour.
The 91 is one of Southern California’s most congested arteries, daily ferrying 312,000 vehicles between Inland rooftops and coastal job centers.
Corona residents daily fret over the army of commuters who abandon the freeway and wind their way through town before landing on Green River. It’s a phenomenon Olsen is all too familiar with, as 20 minutes of his 45-minute, 28-mile, commute to Cypress is spent driving one mile to the freeway.
“Fewer people will be on Green River,” Olsen said. “When the freeway works, Green River is not a problem.”
Mayer told the two-county committee that confronts 91 Freeway problems that her agency also has enough to build a long-postponed flyover ramp connecting eastbound 91 to the northbound 71 Freeway. Work on that $117 million project is projected to begin in fall 2020 and end in winter 2022, Standiford said.
The third project is a ramp designed to move commuters between the 91 toll lanes and the 15 toll lanes that are under construction to the north.
“The 15-91 express lane connector is fully funded” and will start construction after the 15 toll lanes open, Mayer said.
Standiford said fall 2020 is the target for launching construction on the ramp, which is expected to open in spring 2023.
Mayer said the state provided a $180 million grant to cover most of the ramp’s cost, and it comes with a condition that the project be completed by 2023.
“Those three projects will be fully funded by RCTC as a priority, and they are on schedule to be delivered,” Mayer said at the meeting, according to a video on social media. “We have every intention of getting them built.”
Corona City Councilman Wes Speake, who sits on the transportation commission and who posted the video, said the good news is the widely desired westbound 91 lane will be built regardless of whether the agency lands the $75 million grant.
At the same time, he said, commissioners will continue pursuing the federal dollars.
“We’re still looking for grant money,” Speake said. “It would be nice to use that toll money for other things.”
Standiford said the U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to decide by late summer or early fall whether to award the grant for the trio of 91 projects.
In July, the commission is poised to set priorities for transportation projects for the next 10 years, while weighing suggestions from the public gathered through a #RebootMyCommute campaign.