Freeway toll lane plan might switch to 110

The L.A Times' Bottleneck Blog is reporting that a plan to turn HOV lanes into toll lanes may be moved from the 210 Freeway to the 110. The 110 was originally on the list to receive toll lanes in the second phase of the project.

The move, if true, appears to have been touched off by widespread opposition from the San Gabriel Valley politicans:

[Walter Hughes, chief of staff to Assemblyman Ed Hernandez] said that he thought the move was motivated by two concerns -- the 10 and 210 plan didn't have the support of the State Legislature and the mayor was trying to win support for a half-cent sales tax for mass transit funding he wants to place on the November ballot.

UPDATE: I am not so sure I agree with Bottleneck Blog author Steve Hymon on the certainty that this shift from the 210 to the 110 will work. Hymon writes:

Bottom line: if congestion pricing happens in Los Angeles County, it will be on the 10 freeway from downtown to El Monte and the 110 freeway from just south of downtown to the Artesia transit center at 182nd Street.

However, it looks to me after reading MTA's contract with the federal government, that in order to get the $213 million being dangled by the feds, the MTA must convert the 210 Freeway HOV lanes to toll lanes.

I am writing a story for tomorrow's paper so I will be hopefully getting some answers both from the feds and MTA, who have so far not always appeared to be on the same page.