SANTA ANA – County transportation leaders on Monday pushed for a delay on any plans for a $180 million ramp linking the 241 toll road and 91 Freeway Express Lanes over fears the project could increase congestion on both the freeway and the tollway that runs along the middle of it.

The 10-3 vote by the Orange County Transportation Authority’s board requests that the Transportation Corridor Agencies – the public agency that runs the 241 toll road and is the driving force behind the proposed connector – slow down on plans for an elaborate ramp connecting the paid traffic lanes.

Instead, the OCTA board directed its staffers to work with the Riverside County Transportation Commission to come up with big-picture proposals on how to improve the chronically congested traffic lanes on the 91 freeway. The vote follows a recommendation earlier this month by the OCTA’s Executive Committee.

A high-ranking official with Caltrans, the state agency with veto power on any freeway traffic project, backed the ramp.

Ryan Chamberlain, director of Caltrans’ Orange County district, said the state agency has studied the connector project and believes it would benefit the area. He noted the current danger of cars from the 241 quickly cutting across traffic to reach the 91 Express Lanes at the Riverside County line.

“Why we are taking a pause on this now is beyond me,” Chamberlain said.

It is unclear if the project could proceed without the backing of the OCTA, which owns the 91 Express Lanes.

Rush-hour commuters coming from south and central Orange County going to Riverside County who are willing to pay tolls to avoid as much congestion as possible must choose: Take the 241 and endure the 91 freeway, because drivers can’t enter the 91 Express Lanes at that point. Or endure traffic before reaching the 91 Express Lanes.

It takes a long leg in the middle to take both.

The ramp would connect the tollways in both directions, although public debate has focused on the eastbound direction.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies touts the 241/Express Lanes connector as key to decreasing congestion, creating more efficient toll lanes and improving safety for drivers who would no longer have to weave over multiple lanes of traffic to move between the 241 and 91 Express Lanes at the county border. That is the first place motorists coming from Orange County can exit the Express Lanes; they can enter it there, too.

OCTA’s staffers, however, disagree. They say the connector would lure more motorists to the overall corridor, and create more weaving at the Orange County/Riverside County line.

“We think this does more harm,” Darrell Johnson, the OCTA’s CEO, told the board. “Our concern here is that the TCA continues to move forward over our objections and questions and concerns.”

Michael Kraman, the TCA’s chief executive officer, contended that his agency is still updating its own estimates on the expected impact of the proposed 241/Express Lanes connector, particularly in light of the recent expansion of the 91 Express Lanes into Riverside County.

“The OCTA staff presentation is based on old data and assumptions,” Kraman told the board on Monday.

The majority of the public officials who make up the OCTA’s board of directors want the project halted for now.

“This is one of those issues that is like a Rubik’s Cube,” Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido said. “You have a bunch of colors, you are trying to line everything up, and the colors move. … I think the appropriate thing to do is take a breath, not a stop.”

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait opposed the call to pause the project. Noting that the part of the freeway most impacted by the project falls within Anaheim and neighboring Yorba Linda, Tait told his colleagues on the board that “common sense tells you this is a good project.”

“It seems like this is a very hasty decision,” Tait said. “We have been talking about this for a long time. To come up and say, ‘Boom, stop’ seems crazy to me.”

Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson questioned why if Caltrans thought the current freeway setup was so dangerous its officials didn’t do something about it when the 241 was first built.

“Common sense demands a solution, but that doesn’t mean this is the best solution,” Nelson said.

The Riverside County Transportation Commission has backed OCTA’s efforts to take a break for now on the connector project. At Monday’s meeting, John Standiford, spokesman for the RCTC, said the agency is worried about the impact not only on the toll lanes, but on 91 freeway traffic as well.