Billions of dollars in funding helped pave the way for better roads and highways in South Orange County
Prior to Measure M, Dana Point was still county property. The city was incorporated in 1989, just prior to the tax taking effect. Back then in San Clemente, our neighbor to the south, roads looked like a patchwork of asphalt and potholes. Twenty years—and about $9 million—later, drivers can navigate city streets in both cities, largely unfettered.
In Dana Point, Measure M money was a welcome development. “The funding certainly helped our fledgling city get off to a good start with regard to maintaining and improving roadways,” said Dana Point Public Works Director Brad Fowler.
“Before Measure M, San Clemente had virtually no funding to rehabilitate city streets,” said San Clemente Public Works Director Bill Cameron.
In 1990, Orange County voters approved the controversial Measure M, which ushered in a new era of funding for transportation costs from Brea south to San Clemente. The half-cent sales tax of Measure M officially ended March 31, leaving a legacy of increased freeway lanes, smoother streets across the county and rail service.
The self-imposed sales tax generated nearly $4 billion in transportation dollars that were funneled to every community within the county. The funding was divvied up into $1.75 billion for upgrades to Orange County freeways, $1.3 billion for city street projects and $1 billion for Metrolink service and its expenses.
The money helped improve 192 freeway lane miles, 170 intersections and 38 freeway interchanges, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority. Measure M brought Metrolink service to the region in 1994 to the tune of $391.1 million and poured another $600 million into communities across the county.
The ballot initiative was widely considered so successful that voters renewed the tax in 2006 by 69.7 percent. Measure M2, the latest iteration, took effect April 1.
In Dana Point, Measure M money—now often referred to as M1 since the commencement of M2—went toward important projects such as the $1.4 million roadwork and widening that was needed in conjunction with the construction of the gateway pedestrian bridge in 2009. (According to Fowler, Measure M funds did not play a part in the actual building of the bridge, a project that was funded by congestion management funds from developer fees.)
One of the most impactful things Dana Point was able to do with Measure M funds was to work on timing traffic signals by interconnecting them to help flow, said Fowler. Though the city still has a way to go on this project, it is nearly complete with all arterial street signals having been completed.
As for pinpointing one project as having the single biggest impact, Fowler says it’s hard to choose because the funds have had a positive effect on many of the city’s streets. “Measure M funds have been far-reaching and beneficial throughout the city,” said Fowler. “The widening at the pedestrian bridge on PCH, with the new bus turnout pads outside of travel lanes, has improved both traffic flow and safety. More of this type of improvement will be done as part of the upcoming town center project on PCH and Del Prado as M2 moves forward. We are also proposing to use M2 money for the repair of residential streets.”
In San Clemente, the money helped pay for everything from traffic signal coordination at Avenida Pico to $2.77 million for the I-5 Interchange at Avenida Vista Hermosa, which overall cost about $20 million. The city combined the funding with developer fees and other pools of transportation funds to complete the onramps and overpass.
“That has helped take pressure off the (Avenida) Pico interchange and traffic patterns changed quite a bit after that was first opened up,” said Cameron of the most costly local project funded by Measure M.
A Triumph
Reed Royalty, founder and president of the Orange County Taxpayers Association, described Measure M as a “triumph.”
“It’s a government program that has exceeded everyone’s expectations,” he said. “There were no major glitches. The results are very, very good.”
Drivers have experienced the results directly with more lanes and, by and large, less traffic.
Royalty said OC Tax has supported Measure M because it met four criteria and has kept to them. He said the tax is fair, its purpose understandable, cost effective and good for the economy.
“Without good transportation, you can’t do good business,” said Royalty, Measure M’s former campaign chairman.
Royalty, who said he was never paid for his work on Measure M, said he heard a lot of people “bitch” about the tax, but he wonders what life in Orange County would have been like without the transportation dollars.
“Not all taxes are bad. This is a good one,” he said. “We oppose an awful lot of taxes, and this is one we support.”
Features like Measure M’s Oversight Committee and the detailed explanation of the projects to be completed made it accountable and intelligible to voters, Royalty said. The 1990 campaign also had strong leaders shepherding the campaign, he said.
Twice before similar measures had been brought before voters in the 1990s but failed. Organizers learned from their experience and told voters exactly what projects would be funded, Royalty said.
“People understood what they were getting,” he said. “It was very specific.”
Quality of Life
Orange County Supervisor and Board Chairwoman Pat Bates, who represents the Fifth District, said Measure M has “improved our lives significantly.” Freeway improvements like the El Toro Y and the addition of the Metrolink have allowed commuters more travel options.
“All in all, it certainly was a great boon to Orange County as a whole,” she said.
Communities in South County that hadn’t developed with a grid system used the funding to help improve arterial roads to the freeway, the supervisor noted.
Bates also said Measure M was successful because the Oversight Committee helped to assure taxpayers projects would be delivered on time and within budget, the OCTA planned projects simultaneously to better keep schedules and funding on track and stakeholders, like residents and business owners, were asked to weigh in.
“We work very collaboratively here,” Bates said. “I think that is truly a measure for success in any government program.”
Transportation is critical to both our economy and our quality of life, said Paul Glaab, Vice Chairman of the OCTA Board of Directors, who also serves as Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Laguna Niguel. “As such, the board decided to go to voters, not once but twice, to gauge whether the citizens are willing to pay an extra tax to improve transportation issues in Orange County,” he said. “Measure M2 passed in 2006 by an overwhelming majority vote sending a clear message—as did the original Measure M vote in 1990—that the citizens of this county are serious about improving transportation.”
Glaab highlighted the interconnectedness of projects throughout the county with regard, specifically, to quality of life issues.
“The Crown Valley Parkway widening in Mission Viejo was completed about a year ago by M1. Now as we move into M2, work on the Laguna Niguel side will improve traffic circulation from the ocean in Dana Point to Mission Viejo and Ladera Ranch. This is significant as traffic on this side is now stop-and-go during peak driving times,” said Glaab. “We will be ramping this project up quite a bit because the need is certainly there. Traffic congestion in this area has been an impediment to first responders, especially en route to Mission Hospital (which serves the entire area) and is a serious issue, not only with regard to quality of life but also to the health and safety of south county residents.”
Glaab said voters don’t want to sit in traffic and prefer to get from point A to point B in the most efficient manner possible. A former Caltrans employee, he said the agency loved “self help” counties like Orange County whose citizens will voluntarily vote in new taxes—when they believe strongly in the necessity to do so—for the purpose of funding needed projects and improvements.
Caltrans District 12 Director Cindy Quon also said that Measure M drew more funding to Orange County.
“We achieved incredible results with our extremely fruitful partnership with the Orange County Transportation Authority,” she said by email. “We have taken great pride in having delivered all of the Measure M1 highway projects in a cost-effective and efficient manner.”
Quon said Measure M helped make transportation a priority in the county. Caltrans was able to bundle and “maximize” the funds on projects that helped improve the Interstate 5.
Measure M’s success is a “shining example” of collaboration, said OCTA CEO Will Kempton.
“We look forward to once again delivering on our promises to voters through Measure M2,” he added.
A-ha Moment
Royalty said he wanted to post signs at the border of Los Angeles and Orange counties. He would have liked them to say,” Welcome to Orange County. Enjoy our beautiful freeways.” and “Welcome to LA. Prepare to stop.”
Not surprisingly, he couldn’t convince anyone to adopt his idea, but the point is made when drivers cross into or out of Orange County. Measure M lived up to its slogan: Promises made. Promises kept, Royalty said.
“And we did that,” he said. “We even accomplished more than we promised.”
Royalty called Measure M the closest thing to a perfect government program.
Moving forward, residents can look forward to M2 projects such as the upcoming widening and addition of HOV lanes on the I-5 between San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano to be of huge benefit to the citizens of Dana Point and all of South County, said Fowler.
Dana Point didn’t get as much money as some other communities because it is one of the smaller cities in the county but, according to Fowler, Measure M really had no drawbacks for Dana Point.
“Though there will always be a small group that like scrutinize how the money was used, I think Measure M funding, given all the complexities of all the roadways in Orange County, is a system that has served our city and county well,” said Fowler. “Dana Point is a relatively small city, but I feel like we have been given our fair share. And I think the program has been well administrated.”