Governor Unveils Plans for $2.5 Billion in Toll Roads

Nudging the state a step closer to an era of toll roads, Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday unveiled plans to allow entrepreneurs to build $2.5 billion worth of private expressways in Orange and San Diego counties and the fast-growing suburban counties east of Oakland.

The four projects announced by the governor were selected after an unprecedented competition, with the winners allowed to plan, finance, construct and operate their own transportation projects before eventually turning them over to the state. Among the losers were two Los Angeles proposals, including plans for a high-speed train from Los Angeles International Airport to Palmdale.

Deukmejian hailed the winners as part of a “historic public-private partnership” that would give commuters an alternative to overburdened state and federal freeways. Tolls on the new roads are expected to range from 10 to 20 cents a mile.

“While privatizing roads is not something totally new in the country, California’s approach, I believe, is unique,” Deukmejian said, trying to make a distinction from East Coast toll roads. “Rather than dictating which projects should be bid upon, we allowed the private sector the flexibility to go out and determine the projects that would best serve the public.”

The winning projects given approval Friday were:

An 11.2-mile, $700-million elevated expressway to run through the middle of the Santa Ana River flood plain in Orange County. The four-lane tollway would be completed by 1997 and would link Interstate 5 near Anaheim Stadium with Interstate 405 near the John Wayne-Orange County Airport.

A 10-mile, $88.3-million toll road along California 91 from Anaheim to the San Bernardino County line. Completion date is 1994.

A 10-mile, $400-million toll road to be completed in 1995 from the Mexican border to California 54 through vacant land in southern San Diego County.

In Northern California, a $1.2-billion, 40-mile toll road stretching north from Sunol in Alameda County to Antioch, on the edge of Contra Costa County. The toll road would be the first phase of a proposed 85-mile arc through a fast-growing suburban corridor that stretches from Oakland to Sacramento. Completion is planned for 1997.

Passed over was a proposal to rebuild San Francisco’s Embarcadero Freeway, damaged in the Oct. 17 earthquake, and two Los Angeles-area entries that included the airport train and a 15-mile toll road through Simi Valley.

Caltrans Director Robert K. Best said that “there are a lot of economic incentives” for large landowners near the proposed toll roads to cooperate with the projects. He added that he had not realized before Friday that the winning proposals were located in heavily Republican areas.

But the coincidence did not escape Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who said the department’s selection of the winning bidders showed “a pro-development-at-all-cost attitude. It’s a Caltrans giveaway to Republican supporters.” Although still facing environmental review processes, the builders have the legal authority to begin negotiating details with the state. Political opposition to stop them would be an uphill fight.

One of the big winners was Texas computer magnate H. Ross Perot, whose consortium proposed the Santa Ana River project. James E. Erickson, an attorney for the Perot group, said Friday the consortium now plans to ask Disneyland, Anaheim Stadium and the owners of large office towers and South Coast Plaza shopping center to help underwrite its project.

“We’re going to tell them, ‘If you want to get an off-ramp into your parking lot, there’s some value here. . . . We may be able to put an off-ramp to your parking lot. Do you want to pay for it?’ ” he said.

The idea of toll roads, common for a time during California’s Gold Rush days, has made a comeback in recent years because of increased congestion and a shortage of highway funds.

Two years ago, the Legislature gave grudging approval for three locally controlled toll roads to be built in southern Orange County. And last year, Deukmejian won the right to take toll roads statewide in exchange for his support for the 5-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase.

Best said the projects announced Friday will receive no state or federal funding. Although the state could assist by condemning property, he said the winning proposals are planned for existing public rights-of-way or are in favor with neighboring landowners.

Once completed, the toll roads will be deeded to the state, then leased back to their builders, who will have the right to charge tolls for the next 35 years. Tolls will be set to guarantee a reasonable rate of return and can only be changed with state approval, said Best.