Senate, With No Debate at All, Sends Toll Road Bill to Governor

The Senate, without a word of debate, passed and sent to Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday legislation to allow construction in Orange County of California’s first public toll roads.

The bill by Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) was approved on a 28-6 vote. Deukmejian has said that he is inclined to sign it.

The measure would allow two Orange County agencies made up of the county and several cities to build toll roads to bypass the crowded Santa Ana, San Diego and Newport freeways.

‘Lobbied Like Hell’

“I’m in shock,” Seymour said of the ease with which the once-controversial proposal made it through the upper house. “We just lobbied like hell.”

Also lobbying for the bill were politically influential Orange County businessmen, particularly land developers, who see the toll roads as one answer to the recent outcry over rapid population growth and the traffic tie-ups that have come with it.

Seymour said he believes the Southern Californians who will use the turnpikes, possibly as soon as 1991, will accept them despite the state’s tradition of financing freeways through taxes on gasoline.

“Our freeways are such parking lots that I think people are ready for anything,” he said.

The measure, which was passed 45 to 30 by the Assembly on Tuesday, would require that the toll roads be built parallel to existing freeways. Tolls collected could only be used for construction of the turnpikes and would have to be lifted once bonds sold to finance the projects were repaid.