Freeway Program: Innovative Environmental Mitigation

A minimum of $243.5 million will be available, subject to a master agreement, to provide for comprehensive, rather than piecemeal, mitigation of the environmental impacts of freeway improvements. This freeway program is formally called the Mitigation and Resource Projection Program.

Using a proactive, innovative approach, the master agreement negotiated between the OCTA and state and federal resource agencies will provide higher-value environmental benefits such as habitat protection, wildlife corridors and resource preservation in exchange for streamlined project approvals for the freeway program as a whole.

Freeway projects also will be planned, designed and constructed with consideration for their aesthetic, historic and environmental impacts on nearby properties and communities using such elements as parkway-style designs, locally native landscaping, sound reduction and aesthetic treatments that complement the surroundings.