City wants comments on county traffic relief plan

The Canyon Lake City Council will hear from Riverside County Transportation Commission Executive Director Anne Mayer on March 4 about a draft Traffic Relief Plan that the county commission adopted in January.

The commission is urging residents and business operators to visit TrafficReliefPlan.org to view the plan and take a short survey to voice their comments. Feedback will be collected through June 10.

Mayer has led the Commission since 2005 and is the former Caltrans District 8 Director and a registered civil engineer with more than 25 years of service in the transportation profession. She will highlight projects proposed near Canyon Lake to connect communities, improve safety and bring jobs closer to where county residents live. Some of the local proposed projects are:

AAdding at least one lane in each direction on I-15 between Corona and the Riverside County/San Diego County Line

Constructing the Ethanac Expressway, a new connection between Perris and Lake Elsinore

Improving interchanges with I-15 at Central Avenue, Bundy Canyon Road and Baxter Road

Expanding commuter bus service along I-15

Extending passenger rail service to Hemet/San Jacinto

Improving Grand Avenue in Lake Elsinore

In addition to relieving traffic, the plan promotes economic investment in the fast-growing – and often slow-moving – 7,300 square-mile county. Incentives are provided for local governments to develop infrastructure that will secure new permanent living-wage jobs in Riverside County and cut commute times.

In June, the Commission will analyze the feedback and other data to decide whether to place a half-cent per dollar sales tax measure on the November 2020 ballot for voter consideration to fund the Traffic Relief Plan. If approved by a two-thirds majority of voters, the measure could raise close to $200 million per year (in 2020 dollars) countywide.

The plan represents neither a final product nor a vote for a sales tax measure. Rather, it offers a comprehensive set of strategic projects and services that could be delivered if voters approve a transportation funding measure. Should the commission decide to not place the sales tax measure on the ballot, the plan can be used to set long-term priorities, but the investments likely would not be delivered in the near-term or mid-term, due to lack of funds.