Tollway Agency Bridges the Differences : * Giving Opponents a Say in Laguna Canyon Spans Comes Late, but It’s Still Welcome

The San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency is building bridges to a part of its public that is unhappy.

The tollway agency has gotten smart and agreed to let opponents have something to say about bridge design in a sensitive canyon area. The decision to consider downsizing the tollway bridges that would go across Laguna Canyon was therefore a major step in improved public relations, considering some of the rancor between the agency and the city of Laguna Beach in the past.

There is perhaps no Orange County agency, or institution public or private, that has seemed at times quite so clumsy in its public image as the San Joaquin Hills tollway agency. Too often, it seems to have adopted a siege mentality.

Granted, navigating a highway through sensitive and beloved canyons is not an easy assignment. Laguna Beach officials and residents for years have been opposed to the road; and by the way, very visible in their opposition, with protests held to get their message across. The city also refused to join the tollway agency board, which is made up of supervisors and city council members.

But somebody at the agency recently has been thinking more clearly about the politics of making the road more accepted for the long term. That is, the project is such an overwhelming public relations issue, and so potentially troublesome once construction advances, that extra efforts are called for to make peace, if there is to be a lasting community acceptance of the 17.5-mile route.

The majority of the agency board last week wisely argued that the ill feeling had gone on long enough, and that it was time to act. A decision on a final set of appearance and environmental changes was put off a month to look at cost estimates and find funding to pay for changes.

The board has sent the right signal in halting design work on four planned bridges across the sensitive area. Instead, it will consider a two-bridge redesign, with both at the same height, in order to reduce the visual impact of the road.

Laguna Beach, too, has made an effort. City officials signed a conciliatory letter last week that is a major step forward, acknowledging agency efforts to make the road look better.

Ultimately, it was important for road planners to get beyond the technical and engineering considerations and to appreciate more fully the politics of this particular road. Many still don’t want it. Navigating acceptance is still an issue for many people and needs to be reckoned with.