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By Kelly Rayburn

Daily Bruin Contributor

A study by the Southern California Association of Governments to be released Dec. 14 may propose – among other alternatives – that the 101, 405 and other Los Angeles-area freeways be double-decked to reduce traffic.

SCAG functions as the metropolitan planning organization for six Southern California counties, including Los Angeles, and is mandated by the federal government to research and draw up plans for transportation.

Despite reports of a double-decking plan published by the Associated Press, SCAG officials insist that it has not yet endorsed double-decking.

“We are looking at various options, but we don’t have a report at this time,” said Naress Amatya, a SCAG spokesman. “We’re looking at adding more lanes on the 405, but we’re not necessarily saying it should be double-decked – not at this point.”

But Amatya added that double-decking remains an option.

Critics of stacking a second level onto the freeways note the potentially high costs involved.

“A big issue is the costs,” said James De La Loza, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman. “There was a similar project on the Harbor Freeway and it ran about $60-70 million per mile, and that was approximately ten years ago. So they’re going to need to identify the funding and make sure we can build it all.”

The impact during the construction period – both on traffic and on the environment – needs to be considered, De La Loza added.

Ron Milam, the executive director of the Los Angeles Bike Coalition, another stakeholder group interested in the traffic reduction issue, said both SCAG and the MTA have ignored bicycling as an alternative mode of transportation.

“For what it would cost to double-deck any one freeway in Los Angeles, hundreds of miles of bike lanes and bike paths could be built,” he said. “Giving people the option to bike is a better option than building more lanes on freeways.”

The California Department of Transportation – the organization that would carry out the construction if double-decking was ever approved – would not comment until the SCAG study is released.

Los Angeles county’s population – already nearly one-third of California’s – is estimated to grow by 3.5 million in the next 25 years, which would only further exacerbate current traffic problems.

The MTA, though, is not sure that more freeways are the only answer to the traffic question.

“Our position is that we need to look at all options holistically,” said De La Loza, who added that improvements in public transit warrant consideration, too.

The MTA will be releasing a study of their own in January which will consider ways to reduce traffic other than building more freeways.

The MTA supports spending tens of billions of dollars on highway, subway, bus and light rail projects, according to the Los Angeles Times.

But Amatya said SCAG supports similar advancements.

“We have many proposals in the Regional Transit Plan and that included significant investment in regional transit,” he said.

In their plan, the MTA is considering an extension of the subway system’s Red Line all the way to Westwood.

There is some concern that the double-decked freeways might not be earthquake-safe. In 1989, 42 people died on the Oakland Cypress Structure during the Loma Prieta Earthquake.

Amatya said this is a concern and if double-decking were to be approved the structure would be built according to “absolute seismic standards.”

With reports from the Associated Press.

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