THE INLAND EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Every weekday at sunrise, about 270,000 cars pass through Corona, California, a suburban community about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. This traffic pattern has emerged as commuters search for an alternative to the seriously congested State Highway 91, a more direct coastal route to Los Angeles. The situation has so devastated Corona that in 2000 the city sued the California Department of Transportation to force regional highway improvements, and the city council considered seceding from Riverside County. This article discusses the Riverside Country Integrated Project, a highly ambitious local planning effort designed to help reduce traffic congestion and urban sprawl in the eastern part of Riverside County, near Corona.