Tollway Developments Heading in the Wrong Direction

The victory of Clinton-Gore also signals progress for the strong environmental movement nationally.

However, local developments concerning the San Joaquin Hills toll road indicate that proponents of the environmentally destructive tollway haven’t gotten the message (“Acting Chancellor Backs Plan to Sell UCI Land for Toll Road,” Nov. 8). Despite the strong environmental opposition on his own campus, Acting Chancellor L. Dennis Smith announced that UCI will sell 25.2 acres essential to the tollway (incidentally, close to the recently opened Newport Coast Drive and MacArthur Boulevard).

In June, the UCI Academic Senate issued a report charging that the toll road would “be a disaster for the campus” and the adjoining area. Smith’s recent report, in rebuttal, claimed that the toll road is integral to UCI’s growth and development, and would carry about 35% of car trips to the campus. More trips will, of course, require more parking spaces and further jam a campus already bursting at the seams. This will change the nature of the campus, crowding it more in many ways.

NANCY ZEIGER

Laguna Hills