O.C.’s plans at a fork in the road

Once the dust settled from the U.S. Commerce Department’s refusal last week to back a proposed toll road extension through south Orange County, one thing became clear: Traffic planners have a problem.

Environmentalists who had railed against the proposed Foothill South route because of its potential effect on wetlands and San Onofre State Beach are clamoring for Interstate 5 to be widened instead. But no funding exists for that, and it would require bulldozing homes and businesses.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies, the group that wants to build the 16-mile turnpike to connect the existing 241 toll road to Interstate 5 in north San Diego County, said a group of federal and state agencies studied dozens of alternate routes, but the best one was shot down.

“It would really be nice if someone would actually come up with something that worked for everyone,” said Tom E. Margro, chief executive of the Transportation Corridor Agencies, adding that he’s willing to meet with anti-road advocates.

The group is keeping its options wide open, Margro said, including not discarding its preferred route despite federal officials having upheld its veto by the Coastal Commission.

The agency could sue the Commerce Department, reconvene federal and state agencies to choose a new route or do nothing. Deciding whether to pursue litigation, however, is the top priority, Margro said.

“Nothing’s off the table at this point,” he said.

Opponents of the turnpike, eager to see what the toll road board decides at its meeting next month, are urging the agency to abandon its preferred route and join them in finding a new solution.

“At some point, the elected officials need to read the writing on the wall and shift gears into doing something constructive,” said Dan Silver, executive director of the Endangered Habitats League, part of the Save San Onofre Coalition that fought the road.

The route in question was selected by a group of federal and state agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and Caltrans. The elimination process stretched over three decades, began with roughly 30 possible routes and cost about $180 million for engineering and research. Some choices were rejected because they dipped too far into the Camp Pendleton Marine base; others were tossed because they would have destroyed hundreds of homes or wildlife habitat.

“Once built, [the toll road] would probably be the most-studied piece of infrastructure in the United States,” said Tustin Councilman Jerry Amante, chairman of the board of the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency.

In a report earlier this year, however, the Coastal Commission cited half a dozen rejected routes -- some of which would have used San Clemente surface streets -- as viable possibilities, an opinion echoed by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez.

The rejected routes might not be preferred by the Transportation Corridor Agencies, but they “avoid the adverse impact on coastal resources,” said Peter Douglas, state Coastal Commission executive director. The commission, he said, does not endorse a particular route.

“They’ve been working on this for, gosh, over 10 years and we’ve been telling them for over 10 years that this isn’t going to work,” he said. “They finally, I hope, got it.”

For its part, the Save San Onofre Coalition advocates widening Interstate 5. Silver said the inclusion of special high occupancy toll lanes -- which single drivers could use for a fee -- could help generate money to pay for extra lanes, in addition to some funds from Measure M, which uses sales tax money for Orange County transportation improvements. Silver also points out that widening parts of I-5 is part of a recent Orange County Transportation Authority planning study for the region.

The widening proposition is not without its own detractors: Toll road planners, with the support of Caltrans, blasted the idea, saying a larger freeway would mow down 1,200 homes and businesses in its path, and that there was no state funding for the project.

Toll road opponents then commissioned a report that said the freeway could be improved with less harm to San Clemente, a conclusion disputed by federal highway officials. If the freeway improvements don’t happen, Silver said, the coalition isn’t against other, environmentally sensitive paths. Fixing I-5, however, is the focus.

Some south Orange County and north San Diego County residents are disappointed that the toll road plan apparently has been shelved.

Beverly Schula travels from her Encinitas home to visit her elderly aunt and uncle in Costa Mesa several times a month and often uses the 73 toll road to get there.

“I love to drive it,” said Schula, 72. “It makes driving very pleasurable, instead of sitting in traffic.”

She was hoping that the Foothill South would help her avoid I-5 gridlock as well as speed up her children’s commutes.

“It seems like there’s enough room for everything,” she said.

“Since we have so many people and more coming in all the time, we need to look to the future.”

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susannah.rosenblatt@latimes.com