County Offers $300,000 for 5 Transportation Studies

Hoping to take advantage of a new state law allowing private toll roads and rail lines, county transportation officials Monday offered $300,000 in matching funds for environmental and engineering studies of five such projects.

The Orange County Transportation Commission voted 7 to 0 to make the money available to private entities interested in building one of four proposed toll roads--including an extension of the Orange Freeway along the Santa Ana River--or in establishing a commuter rail line between San Clemente and Los Angeles.

A state law passed in the summer would allow four privately built and operated toll roads or transit lines, with at least one in Northern California and one in Southern California.

County transportation officials are excited about their chances to win approval for at least one project because of the county’s affluence and urgent need for new roads--two factors that would help make a private toll road profitable.

The commission staff had recommended that the $300,000 be made available only for studies of the Orange Freeway extension, because that project is the furthest along and already is part of the state highway system.

But Brea City Councilwoman Clarice A. Blamer, a member of the Transportation Commission, asked that three other proposed toll roads also be included.

Another commissioner, Costa Mesa attorney Dana W. Reed, added the commuter rail line to the list of eligible projects.

That list now includes:

* An extension of the Orange Freeway along the Santa Ana River from the Garden Grove Freeway to either the San Diego Freeway or Pacific Coast Highway.

* Tonner Canyon Road, north of Brea, connecting eastern Los Angeles County and North Orange County.

* Soquel Canyon Road, north of Yorba Linda, connecting western San Bernardino County to Orange County.

* A road linking the Temecula-Rancho California area of Riverside County to the planned Foothill tollway and Interstate 5 near San Clemente.

* A commuter rail line between San Clemente and Los Angeles.