Tollway Agency-Caltrans Proposal Draws Protest : Transportation: The agreement would create a ‘no-competition’ zone around the San Joaquin Hills toll road that opponents say will shortchange commuters and only make traffic worse.

Seeking to bolster the prospects that commuters will use the proposed San Joaquin Hills toll road once it is built, county tollway officials are negotiating with Caltrans to create a “no-competition” zone along the route.

Traffic improvements currently underway and most projects listed in the county’s long-range plans would not be affected. However, the agreement seeks to prevent Caltrans from coming up with new plans for competing rail and highways projects over the next 35 years that would undermine the success of the toll road.

Toll road opponents are outraged, saying it will shortchange commuters and only make traffic worse in southern Orange County. Tollway officials say that commuters need not worry and that the agreement is needed to get the financing necessary to start construction.

The agreement would create a “no-competition” zone around the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor until the year 2025 and ensure that enough commuters use the $1-billion toll road to pay off construction bonds, according to Caltrans and tollway agency documents.

The proposal, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, also calls for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to help out the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency financially if Caltrans violates the no-competition agreement. The state agency would use taxpayers’ money to make up any difference between toll revenues and payments due on construction bonds.

The agreement’s impact on toll-free transportation projects is minimal, state and county transportation officials said, because it would exempt projects contained in Measure M, the half-cent sales tax for traffic improvements approved by county voters in November, 1990. It also would exempt projects that already are included in the state’s seven-year transportation improvement program.

The exemptions cover every transportation improvement currently planned. Beyond the state’s seven-year plan, no Caltrans projects are anticipated on Interstate 5, the Costa Mesa, Laguna, San Diego and Corona del Mar freeways and Pacific Coast Highway, within the proposed no-competition zone.

The toll road runs 17 1/2 miles from the Corona del Mar Freeway near John Wayne Airport to Interstate 5 near San Juan Capistrano.

But the agreement could affect future Amtrak service. If Amtrak wanted to add additional trains, it would need Caltrans approval.

Measure M projects include installation of car-pool lanes on Interstate 5 south of the El Toro Y, extensive remodeling of the same interchange and additional rail service, all due by 1997. The agreement could prevent any modifications to them.

Dale Ratzlaff, a Caltrans official involved in the negotiations, said the purpose of the agreement is to reassure potential bond investors that Caltrans does not plan to undermine tollway ridership with improvements elsewhere.

Indeed, competition from toll-free road improvements is partly responsible for dismal toll revenues on the E-470 toll-road project near Denver.

There, surrounding counties improved parallel roads and raised speed limits along the routes to 50 m.p.h., thereby undercutting E-470 even though they supported its construction.

But toll-road critics such as Michael Fitts of the Natural Resources Defense Council accused Caltrans of entering into a deal that “locks out” changes in transportation planning for 30 years without any public discussion.

He also noted a provision that would require Caltrans to use its “best efforts” to construct car-pool lanes on the tollway if such lanes are required by state or federal regulatory agencies.

Having Caltrans construct the lanes and pay for them would save the tollway agency--which is already obligated to build car-pool lanes by 2010--millions of dollars at taxpayers’ expense.

The tollway is supposed to be financed 48.5% with developer fees, with the rest coming from bonds to be repaid with future toll revenues, as well as some small state and federal grants.

Particularly offensive, Fitts said, is the provision in the agreement that amounts to a “privately negotiated, taxpayer bailout” if Caltrans violates the no-competition zone.

Fitts said it would be almost impossible for Caltrans not to violate the agreement, since the state agency routinely comes up with changes in ongoing project designs and finds places where additional car-pool lanes would be useful, among other transportation system refinements.

Tollway agency spokesman Mike Stockstill said tollway officials will not comment while the final agreement is still being negotiated.

Caltrans’ Ratzlaff noted that the state’s contract with firms to build and operate several private toll roads, including toll lanes on the Riverside Freeway to be constructed soon, also call for similar, competition-free zones.