The Los Angeles Times published a truly remarkable article today: "MTA Fears A Bottleneck At OC Line."

Basically, Metropolitan Transportation Authority is complaining the  Orange County Transportation Authority's ongoing program of freeway widening is making MTA look bad. OCTA's freeway-centered investment collides with MTA's lightrail-centered priorities at the LA-OC county line in the form of traffic bottlenecks. It's a vivid illustration of the different outcomes of the two agencies priorities.

OCTA has funneled its money into transportation modes the vast majority of people actually use: freeway and roads. As a result, our freeways move faster than those in Los Angeles. The MTA, by contrast, has prioritized its money into modes of public transit that far fewer people use, i.e. light rail. Or as OCTA Director Jerry Amante put it:

"We build lanes, not trains."

The I-5 bottleneck is already a glaring manifestation of the differences between these two infrastructure strategies, and widening the 405 in OC will only heighten the contrast.

So, rather than relieving congestion on the northern OC-section of the 405, MTA would rather we continue to crawl along in both Los Angeles and Orange counties.

I like this line from the article:

How the freeway projects will affect traffic at the county line highlights a lack of regional planning, transportation experts say.

Actually, I think it highlights smart transportation investment by Orange County, and myopic transportation planning by the MTA.

It also points up the benefits of competition between governments:

Art Leahy, OCTA chief executive, noted that the MTA accelerated its plans for the Santa Ana Freeway only after OCTA began construction to improve the freeway near the county line in Buena Park.

"I think that's healthy," Leahy said. "The fact that L.A. improved the I-5 following the lead of Orange County, that's synergy. The fact that we have difference of opinions, that's just business."

Leahy is exactly right.

Kuods to ther folks at OCTA. Don't slow down, and keep making MTA look bad -- maybe they'll wise up one of these days.