Letter to the Hon. Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation - Rep. Cisneros Submits Bipartisan Letter of Support to The U.S. Dot Seeking Funds for The 57/60 Project by La Metro

Letter

Dear Secretary Chao:

We write in strong support of the application submitted by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA METRO) to the United States Department of Transportation's (USDOT's) Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) competitive grant program for the SR 57/60 Confluence Chokepoint Relief Project (Project).

LA METRO is submitting this application to improve freight mobility and relieve congestion on our highways in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino. The Project represents an opportunity for USDOT to invest $25 million in INFRA grant funding to implement a $420 million freight highway project of national significance. Further, the INFRA grant will allow the Project to start construction nearly two-and-a-half years earlier than currently planned, to the benefit of the national freight highway system.

The State Route 57 / State Route 60 Confluence project will improve mobility and safety through these heavily congested freeways that share an alignment for approximately two miles in Eastern Los Angeles County. Thousands of freight trucks and passenger vehicles are forced to execute dangerous lane weaving in order to navigate the freeways at the current confluence. Due to this situation, the 57/60 confluence is the 4th most congested freight bottleneck in the nation with the 2nd highest number of truck accidents in Southern California.

The requested funding will support the construction of an additional SR 57 travel lane, a new SR 60 loop-on ramp, a new eastbound SR 60 bypass off-ramp to Grand Avenue, and reconstruct the Grand Avenue overcrossing with a new bridge over SR 60. Eliminating this bottleneck will save 210 hours of truck delay daily at the confluence and will save $1 billion of driver delay time over the next 20 years. More importantly, the project is estimated to reduce fatalities and accidents by 25 percent while increasing afternoon peak hour speeds from 39 mph to 60 mph. These improvements will enhance passenger safety, increase freight volume through the chokepoint, and bolster the competitive nature of goods the movement system in Southern California.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. Your full and fair consideration of this application is greatly appreciated.

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