OCTA express 721 is bi-directional (albeit operates only during weekday rush hour) between downtown L.A. and Fullerton Transit Center

http://www.octa.net/pdf/pdf/sep2009/route721.pdf

I too struggle to see how freeway capacity expansion can be argued to reduce VMT and ghg emissions – it is a argument that I have begun to see lately – definitely troubling and perhaps lacking in logic as I understand it.

People always talk about inequality on these sites, but let me tell you, freeway expansion plus bus service cuts is *really* unequal. I wish the BRU would come down to Orange County and ride the bus sometime. They don’t know how good they have it. LA has rapid buses, bus transitways, subways and light rail. OC bus service is going back to 1975 levels. We are two years late on implementing rapid bus routes. It’s despicable.

The other big point is that over 80% of this widening is being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This is strong evidence that we still see the environment as separate from and subordinate to the economy. I sincerely HOPE we can CHANGE that outlook.

Lesson of today: In California, Interstates, U.S. routes and plain state highways are all “state highways” per state law and are afforded the title of “Route”. Federal agencies (particularly AASHTO) give them the additional title of “I-” or “U.S.” The 91, 71 and 241 Freeways are not Interstates at all and should not be labeled as “I-”91, etc., since it would construe as misrepresentation of an existing highway. Their correct title is “Route” (e.g. “Route 91″). If this was an attempt to instill hyperbole in your piece by characterizing them as would-be Interstates, then you have been taken to task. (Route 71 isn’t even a freeway when it meets the 91 freeway.)

Having said that, the widening effectively deflates the point of having HOT lanes right in the middle of it.