OCTA Votes for One New Free Lane for 405 Freeway

The Orange County Transportation Authority voted 6-2 on Tuesday to support a plan that would add one general purpose lane in each direction on a stretch of the 405 Freeway from Seal Beach to Costa Mesa.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the vote also left room for a possible second lane to be built on the freeway in the future and postponed talks on whether or not that lane would be a toll lane.

The vote comes after much controversy over talks of adding toll lanes to the busy stretch of freeway. That proposal led to the very vocal opposition of six cities, including Los Alamitos and Seal Beach.

In a letter to OCTA, the leaders of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa said that adding any toll lanes to the freeway would be a "breach of trust with Orange County residents" and supported adding two general purpose lanes in each direction.

"There is only one project that the Corridor Cities are interested in and believe would justify the use of Measure M funds," the letter stated. "That project is the widening of the 405 freeway to include two new general purpose lanes in each direction."