The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) on June 14 approved a $1.3 billion budget that aims to improve the California county’s roadways.
Some of the funds budgeted for the 2021-22 fiscal year will go toward capital investment projects, including freeway improvement projects on interstates 405 and 5, as well as state routes 55, 57, and 91.
“OCTA continues to lead freeway improvements throughout Orange County, most notably the I-405 improvement project, which is adding lanes to a 16-mile stretch of the 405 between Costa Mesa and the county border with Los Angeles County near the I-605,” OCTA spokesperson Eric Carpenter told The Epoch Times.
Along with freeway improvements, county staff said residents will see improvements throughout city streets, alongside continuing transit services.
Funds from Measure M, a 30-year half-cent sales tax that goes toward transportation improvements in the county, will continue to finance infrastructure upgrades, including higher-quality synchronized traffic signals to ensure drivers get more green lights and spend less time in traffic.
Under the OCTA’s recently-approved budget, $141 million will go toward bettering roads and streets, with $44 million to be spent providing more traffic capacity. An additional $43 million will go toward traffic-signal synchronization.
OCTA is putting aside 47 percent of its budget for transit systems, since the Orange County bus service is budgeted at 1.45 million service hours, a 250,000 hour year-over-year increase.
The development of Orange County’s first modern electric streetcar, which will run along a 4.1-mile route through downtown Santa Ana to Garden Grove, will receive $35 million in funds for ongoing construction.
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