Measure M Promises Fulfilled
On Nov. 6, 1990, Orange County voters approved Measure M, a half-cent local transportation sales tax for 20 years. All of the major projects promised to and approved by the voters are under way or complete. Funds that go to cities and the County of Orange to maintain and improve local street and roads, along with transit fare reductions for seniors and persons with disabilities, will continue until Measure M ends in 2011. The promises made in Measure M have been fulfilled.

Renewing Measure M
The Renewed Measure M Transportation Investment Plan is a 30-year, $11.8 billion program designed to reduce traffic congestion, strengthen our economy and improve our quality of life by upgrading key freeways, fixing major freeway interchanges, maintaining streets and roads, synchronizing traffic signals countywide, building a visionary rail-transit system, and protecting our environment from the oily street runoff that pollutes Orange County beaches. The transportation investment plan is focused solely on improving the transportation system and includes tough taxpayer safeguards, including a Taxpayer Oversight Committee, required annual audits, and regular, public reports on project progress. The Renewed Measure M Transportation Investment Plan must be reviewed annually, in a public meeting, and every 10 years a detailed review of the plan must take place. If circumstances require the voter-approved plan to be altered, those changes must be taken to the voters for approval.

Relieving Congestion on Freeways
Relieving congestion on the Riverside Freeway (SR-91) is the centerpiece of the freeway program, and will include new lanes, new interchanges and new bridges. Other major projects will make substantial improvements on the Corona Freeway (I-5) in southern Orange County and the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in western Orange County. The notorious Orange Crush — the intersection of the I-5, the Garden Grove Freeway (SR-22) and the Orange Freeway (SR-57) near Angel Stadium — will be improved and upgraded. Under the plan, major traffic chokepoints on almost every Orange County freeway will be remedied. Improving Orange County freeways will be the greatest investment in the Renewed Measure M program: 43 percent of net revenues, or $4.871 billion, will be invested in new freeway construction.

Delivering Visionary Transit
As Orange County continues to grow, Renewed Measure M will help build a visionary rail transportation system that is safe, clean and convenient, uses and preserves existing rights of way, and provides high-speed connections both inside and outside of Orange County. Twenty-five percent of the net revenue from Renewed Measure M, or $2.83 billion, will be dedicated to transit programs countywide. About 20 percent, or $2.24 billion, will be dedicated to creating a new countywide high capacity transit system anchored on the existing, successful Metrolink and Amtrak rail line, and about 5 percent, will be used to enhance senior transportation programs and provide targeted, safe localized bus service.

Repairing 6,500 Miles of Streets
More than 6,500 lane miles of aging streets and roads will need repair, rejuvenation and improvement. City streets and county roads need to be maintained regularly and potholes have to be filled quickly. Thirty-two percent of net revenue from the Renewed Measure M Transportation Investment Plan, or $3.625 billion, will be devoted to fixing potholes, improving intersections, synchronizing traffic signals countywide, and making the existing countywide network of streets and roads safer and more efficient.

Protecting the Environmental
Every day, more than 70 million gallons of oily pollution, litter, and dirty contaminants wash off streets, roads, and freeways and pour onto Orange County waterways and beaches. When it rains, the transportation-generated beach and ocean pollution increases tenfold. Under the plan, 2 percent of the gross Renewed Measure M Transportation Investment Plan, or $237 million, will be dedicated to protecting Orange County beaches from this transportation-generated pollution (sometimes called urban runoff) while improving ocean water quality.

Taxpayer Safeguards and Audits
When new transportation dollars are approved, they should go for transportation and transportation purposes alone. No bait-and-switch. No using transportation dollars for other purposes. The original Measure M went solely for transportation purposes. The Renewed Measure M is just as airtight. One percent of the gross Renewed Measure M program, or $118.6 million over 30 years, will pay for annual, independent audits, taxpayer safeguards, an independent Taxpayer Oversight Committee assigned to watchdog government spending, and a full, public disclosure of all Renewed Measure M expenditures. A detailed review of the program must be conducted every 10 years and, if needed, major changes in the investment plan must be brought before Orange County voters for approval. Taxpayers will receive an annual report detailing the Renewed Measure M expenditures. Additionally, as required by law, an estimated 1.5 percent of the sales taxes generated, or $178 million over 30 years, must be paid to the California State Board of Equalization for collecting the one-half cent sales tax that funds the Renewed Measure M Transportation Investment Plan.