Vote Yes on Measure M to Move and Improve L.A. County Traffic Now
Downey, Calif., September 27 -- L.A. Mayor and Metro Vice Chair Eric Garcetti, Metro Board Chair and Duarte Councilmember John Fasana, Ironworkers 416 Business Manager Hart Keeble and FAST Executive Director Hilary Norton (Fixing Angelenos Stuck In Traffic) today urged L.A. County voters to vote yes on Measure M, the Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan, highlighting its immediate freeway fixes and the 465,000 jobs it will create. They were also joined by Operating Engineers, Carpenters and other Measure M supporters.
Measure M, they said, will unclog the 605 immediately with $1 billion in bottleneck fixes. Today's event was held in Downey, near the 605 & 5 interchange, which is choked by 300,000 cars and trucks a day.
Measure M's $1 billion in immediate funding to fix "hot spots" along the 605 will target the following interchanges:
- 5&605
- 10&605
- 60&605
- 91&605
- 105&605
- 405&605
"The 605 is vital artery for our region, from the San Gabriel Valley through the Gateway Cities to our coast, and Measure M will get to work to unclog it immediately," Garcetti said. "With the L.A. County population increasing by 2.3 million in the coming years, we must pass Measure M now to deliver immediate and long-term traffic relief. We've got to vote yes on Measure M to move and improve L.A. County Traffic Now."
L.A. County residents are stuck in traffic for 81 hours a year. A recent Texas A&M analysis found that traffic congestion costs the average commuter in our region $1,711, including from wasted fuel and lost productivity. All together, drivers in our region lose 622 stuck in traffic a year, for a total cost of $13.3 billion, according to the analysis.
Measure M will reduce the time people are stuck in traffic by fifteen percent a day. According to the non-profit Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, it will create 465,000 new jobs. Measure M will ease traffic immediately by repairing potholes and repaving local streets and roads in each of L.A. County’s 88 cities. It will keep senior, disabled, and student fares affordable and will provide critical earthquake retrofitting for overpasses and bridges.
Measure M will modernize L.A. County's aging transportation system and build a twenty-first century transportation network that expands subway, light rail, Rapid Bus, Metrolink, freeways, and highways. Measure M adds and accelerates transit lines and finally ties them together into a comprehensive system that will work with an improved freeway and local road network.
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