Tollway Project Clears Hurdle With Bond Sale

The San Joaquin Hills tollway passed a major hurdle Wednesday as more than $1 billion in tax-exempt revenue bonds were sold to finance the $2-per-trip toll road’s construction, now due to begin in April or May.

Successful completion of the bond sale, the biggest ever for an Orange County public works project, means that the only remaining hurdles are court actions in various lawsuits filed by environmentalists.

Tollway officials say the court actions pose only a risk of delay and not a shutdown of the project.

The road is scheduled to open in March, 1997.

Part of the environmentalists’ strategy, however, is to force lengthy delays in construction so the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency will not begin reaping income from tolls and default on the bonds sold Wednesday. At the very least, they hope the court actions will force design changes and a more intense effort to reduce environmental damage.

Despite looming courtroom battles, tollway officials were ecstatic Wednesday about their financial victory on Wall Street.

“We’re very pleased with the sale,” said Walter Kreutzen, the tollway agency’s finance chief.

Agency chairman John Cox, a Newport Beach councilman, added: “The sale is a tremendous achievement. . . . The sale of these bonds underscores the fact that this project is a good investment.” The sale involved a mixture of bonds maturing in 30 and 40 years, and were sold at an average interest rate of 7.6%.

The much-debated tollway will extend 17.5 miles from the Corona del Mar Freeway near John Wayne Airport to Interstate 5 near San Juan Capistrano.

Tolls are expected to be $2 per trip, each way, on the full length of the road, with cheaper rates for shorter trips.

The county’s first operational toll road is expected to be a 3.6-mile segment of the Foothill tollway near Mission Viejo, due to open to traffic this fall. Initial tolls there are expected to be about 50 cents.