By Claire Vitucci
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - The transportation component of Riverside County's ambitious Integrated Project was named Thursday as a top priority among the nation's transportation projects and will likely move more quickly through the federal permitting process and be at the front of the line for federal money.

The construction project is one of seven designated to receive fast environmental review as part of President Bush's September executive order to cut red tape for transportation projects.

The Riverside County project, which calls for four corridors better linking Riverside with San Bernardino and Orange counties, will cost
several billion dollars

"President Bush asked his Cabinet to help states cut through federal bureaucratic inertia to help them complete sound transportation projects more quickly and at less cost," said Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in a statement. "This important initiative will help us do just that. We will not, however, sacrifice environmental standards in this effort."

What's proposed by the county is part of its three-year effort to deal with growth. State planners predict the county will grow from more than 1.6 million today to more than 2.5 million by 2020.

County officials said Thursday's announcement shows that the hard work in lobbying the Clinton and Bush administrations and federal lawmakers about the benefits of integrated planning has paid off.

"It clearly highlights the hottest growth area in the nation and its need for infrastructure," said Supervisor Tom Mullen, the plan's architect. "It will help ensure continued federal financial support, which is clearly what we've been after all along."

The timing of Thursday's announcement couldn't be better, said Eric Haley, director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission. Next year, Congress will reauthorize the six-year federal transportation bill, which decides which projects get funding.

Being named by the Department of Transportation as a model for the nation will help to push the project to the front of the line when the money is doled out, Haley said.

"It will give us a great deal of recognition and authority going into a competitive process for major discretionary grants in the new federal bill," Haley said. "That could be many millions of dollars in benefits."

Transportation commission staff has chosen two preferred transportation routes in Riverside County, one east-west, the other north-south. Public hearings on the two routes will likely start next month, Haley said, adding he expects the two routes to be finalized in eight or nine months.

Under the federal permitting process, multiple agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Interior will have to sign off on transportation projects.

In many cases the permits are duplicated. According to the Department of Transportation, it takes a median time of 4 1/2 years to process environmental documents for major highway projects and 13 years to go from planning to opening for a new highway.

The seven projects named Thursday are only the first to be considered by a task force chaired by Mineta. It is made up of agency representatives. Governors can nominate projects for expedited environmental review to be placed on a project priority list, said Bill Outlaw, a Department of Transportation spokesman.

PLANNING

The Riverside County Integrated Project proposes to combine plans for land use, transportation and endangered species protection in the fast-growing county.

Claire Vitucci can reached by email at cvitucci@pe.com.