Has Measure M done its job?

September 12th, 2008, 12:00 pm · 1 Comment · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

The half-cent transportation sales tax was meant to keep traffic moving. Has it worked?

The obstacles have been great. In the years since Measure M passed in 1990, according to U.S. Census data:

Orange County’s population swelled by 24 percent, adding 557,000 people.
Jobs grew by 10 percent, adding 200,000 workers.
Traffic patterns changed dramatically, with more workers now commuting from Los Angeles to Orange County than the other way around.

Yet the census data suggests that, without Measure M, traffic would probably be much worse today.

In 1990, on average, Orange County residents spent 25.5 minutes getting to work. In 2005, commuting took 26.5 minutes.
Orange County had the second-shortest average commute of five busy Southern California counties (San Diego had the shortest, at 25 minutes; Riverside had the longest, at 32 minutes).
Of these five counties, Orange County’s commutes grew the least between 1990 and 2005 (in San Diego, commute times increased 19 percent; in Orange County, only 4 percent).

Measure M has raised $3.3 billion to date - already more than it promised to deliver - and will have poured $4.26 billion into Orange County’s transportation infrastructure by the time it expires in 2011. All projects promised in the original plan were completed on time and within budget, the Orange County Transportation Authority’s Joel Zlotnik says.

With OC’s commute time growing by one minute over 15 years of Measure M, one could say that Orange County has been running as hard as it can to stand still, and is apparently still sliding a wee bit behind.

But can you imagine what it would be like trying to get to work or the beach or Disneyland without Measure M?!

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