EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive
Summary
Introduction
Current
Operating HOV Facilities in Orange County
Purpose
of the DEIR/EIS
Purpose
and Need for the Project
Project
Alternatives
Project
Impacts/Mitigation
Coordination
with Resource Agencies
INTRODUCTION
The Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIR/EIS) identifies the pur-pose
and need for the State Route 22/West Orange County
Connection (SR-22/WOCC), describes the alternatives
being considered to address the purpose and need,
and documents the potential environ-mental effects
of these alternatives pursuant to the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA). The DEIR/EIS is divided into two
volumes: Volume I, which includes the analysis, and
Volume II, which includes public scoping meetings
minutes, and public notices. Technical reports are
under separate cover.
SR-22 is an existing six-lane freeway
in Orange County that provides connections to five
major freeways: Interstate 605 (I-605), Interstate
405 (I-405), Interstate 5 (I-5), State Route 57 (SR-57),
and State Route 55 (SR-55). Built in the 1960s, SR-22
is one of only two east/west freeways in Orange County.
Because of its unique location, it crosses most of
the major north/south arterial corridors in the central
county and, consequently, has become a vital link
in providing mobility to Orange County residents,
workers, and visitors.
The SR-22/WOCC project length is
approximately 21 kilometers (13 miles) and extends
from I-605 to SR-55 . The SR-22/WOCC passes through
seven jurisdictions. From west to east along SR-22,
these jurisdictions are: Los Alamitos, Orange County
(unincorporated community of Rossmoor), Seal Beach,
Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and Orange.
The study area is also located immediately adja-cent
to Tustin.
The following are the locations of
the proposed SR-22 WOCC improvements project:
12 ORA-5 KP/(PM) R53.6/R54.5(33.32/33.85)
12 ORA-22 KP/(PM) R1.1/21.2(0.66/13.17)
12 ORA-55 KP/(PM) R20.5/22.0(12.71/13.70)
12 ORA-405 KP/(PM) R33.1/38.6(20.56/23.98)
12 ORA-605 KP/(PM) R0.0/1.6(0.0/1.0)
The lead agencies for this environmental review are
the California Department of Transportation (Cal-trans)
for the CEQA documentation (EIR) and the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) for the NEPA documentation (EIS).
The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA)
is a responsible agency un-der CEQA, and is a co-applicant
with Caltrans for Transportation Congestion Relief
Program (TCRP) funding.
The SR-22/WOCC project alternatives
involve transportation improvements to the SR-22 corridor,
in-cluding portions of I-405 and I-605. Four alternatives
are currently under consideration: the No Build Al-ternative,
the Transportation System Management/Expanded Bus
Service Alternative, the Full Build Al-ternative,
and the Reduced Build Alternative. Potential transportation
improvements considered as part of the SR-22/WOCC
project include:
· a new high occupancy vehicle
(HOV) lane in both directions between I-405 and SR-55
· an additional HOV lane in both directions
of I-405 between I-605 and SR-22
· direct freeway-to-freeway HOV connectors
between
· I-605 and I-405 (both directions)
· I-405 and SR-22 (both directions)
· Eastbound SR-22 and southbound I-5
· Northbound I-5 and westbound SR-22
· Eastbound SR-22 and northbound SR-55
· Southbound SR-55 and westbound SR-22
· a continuous auxiliary lane in both directions
of SR-22 between Beach Boulevard and I-5
· a new limited-access arterial branching south
from SR-22 along the former Pacific Electric right-of-way
to central Santa Ana
