Countywide : Task Force Will Study Proposal for Toll Road

The Orange County Transportation Commission voted unanimously Monday to appoint a special task force to recommend which proposed freeway should be designated a toll road.

Recent federal highway legislation named the county one of seven sites nationally that will be permitted to use federal funds for experimental toll road projects.

At one time the planned San Joaquin Hills freeway between Newport Beach and San Juan Capistrano was considered most likely for toll road designation because the bill covers five years’ worth of spending money and the freeway was the only new one expected to be under construction here during that period.

Now, however, county transportation officials believe that the planned Foothill freeway, near the base of the Santa Ana Mountains east of Irvine and Mission Viejo, may be the best choice because the San Joaquin Hills project may not need tolls to help pay off construction costs.

The first person named to the task force was Transportation Commission member Clarice A. Blamer. The task force has no deadline for completing its review of possible toll road sites.