Foothill Toll Road Opens : Motorists May Drive Initial 3.2-Mile Route for Free During Next 2 Weeks

California’s first toll road in more than 70 years opened Saturday with all the hoopla of an old-fashioned Hollywood movie premiere.

Leading a parade of classic cars, Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez motored up to a tollbooth on the Foothill tollway at Alton Parkway here and handed two quarters to John Brophy, president of Lockheed IMS, the New Jersey-based firm hired to install and manage the road’s high-tech toll collection system.

“We’ve been driving since 1955 to get here,” Vasquez quipped as he paid his 50-cent toll from the driver’s seat of a red, 1955 Cadillac. “Now we’re on our way.”

With toll road protesters shouting slogans from a bridge overlooking the new road, Brophy congratulated Vasquez and others in the parade for being the first cash-paying customers on the initial 3.2 miles of the 30-mile Foothill Transportation Corridor, which opened to traffic at 5 p.m. Saturday--13 hours earlier than planned.

Although the $48-million project was originally not scheduled to open to public traffic until 6 a.m. today, officials changed their minds and decided it would be more fitting to open it on the day of the ceremony. Drivers can use the tollway free of charge for two weeks.

At 5:05 p.m., a dozen orange pylons were removed at the Lake Forest Drive entrance to the roadway, allowing Greg Vedder, 38, of Fountain Valley, his wife and sister-in-law to enter. “Greg had seen it was going to be opened in the newspaper, and we were helping my sister move today, so we decided we’d be the first to try it,” said Samantha Vedder, his wife.

Later, however, Samantha Vedder was a bit dejected when she learned that she had missed the official opening for the tollway.

At one of the tollbooths, tollway employee Paul Gurley handed out brochures with information on how to use the corridor and answered questions from motorists.

“Mostly, the people want to know two things: when are we going to start charging the toll and where will this road take them,” Gurley said.

Traffic was light for the 5 p.m. opening, but drivers still appeared confused over how to get on and off the roadway, having to ask project officials for directions.

The tollway opening came two days after motorists began using the $2-billion Century Freeway in Los Angeles County. Transportation officials say they believe that due to costs and environmental problems, the Century Freeway is probably Southern California’s last new freeway.

In Orange County, 896 runners braved occasional showers to compete in footraces along the Foothill tollway Saturday morning as part of the day’s festivities. Entry fees benefited Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills.

As loudspeakers boomed with a recorded rendition of “Sing, Sing, Sing,” a song from the 1930s big-band era, Bob Kay, 67, of Newport Beach and Janet Endrijonas, 52, of San Clemente started dancing with each other atop the Alton Parkway bridge after competing in a 5-K race. “We didn’t know each other,” said Kay, who credited a 78-year-old friend for getting him to participate. “We know each other now,” quipped Endrijonas.

Like several runners, Nick Trozzi, 33, of Panorama City said he came from far away to participate because “I’ve never run on a (tollway) before.”

But Kay, the erstwhile dancer and a retired aerospace scientist, said he had also come to see the tollway’s “FasTrak” toll collection system. Users of the system insert a credit card into a dashboard-mounted transponder that exchanges account data with roadside computers, thus eliminating the need to stop at tollbooths.

Motorists who do not want to use the high-tech system can still pay cash at the booths, however.

About two dozen anti-toll road activists showed up Saturday to protest the event with banners proclaiming: “Stop the Toll Roads” and “Welcome to another . . . ground raping.”

One activist, Jean Jenks of Laguna Beach, wore a mask resembling Irvine Co. Chairman Donald L. Bren, whose company owns much of the land along the northern portion of the tollway. “I think the public needs to know the downstream results of these roads is that Orange County will be turned into an environmental and financial wasteland,” Jenks said.

When the Foothill tollway is completed after the year 2000, drivers are expected to have to pay a fee of about $4.50 to use the entire 30-mile roadway between San Clemente and Irvine.

Despite continued protests, Vasquez defended the new highway as being “absolutely” necessary. The supervisor, whose district includes the tollway, said it would provide “welcome relief” to residents who endure the jammed confluence of the Santa Ana and San Diego freeways in Irvine.

“Thank God,” Supervisor Thomas F. Riley said. “After all these years, it’s finally open.”

Mike Barry of Buena Park, who drove his 1957 Chevrolet in the classic car parade, got a chuckle from a sheriff’s deputy when he asked: “When can we drag race?”

Motorists may use the road for free during a get-acquainted period that lasts until Nov. 1. The road carries a 55 m.p.h. speed limit and connects Portola Parkway near Lake Forest with Portola Parkway near Irvine. A new, 3.3-mile section of Portola Parkway also opened Saturday, from the northern terminus of the tollway to Jeffrey Road in Irvine.

Eventually, the Foothill tollway--one of five toll road projects in Orange County--will connect the Eastern tollway near Irvine Lake with Interstate 5 near San Clemente.

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Times staff writer David Reyes contributed to this report.

How to Use the Tollway

Commuters who want to use the Foothill Transportation Corridor can pay tolls two ways: automatically by computer or with cash. Tolls are 25 cents or 50 cents, depending on distance traveled. Sliding scale for trucks can reach $1.80. Penalty for non-payment can be as high as $86.50 each car.

AUTOMATIC PAYMENT: Insert card into transponder before entering tollway, and choose lane marked “FasTrak ONLY” to avoid stopping. Transponder: Dashboard-mounted. Card: Has account information. A. Road sensors: Counts number of axles to determine toll amount. B. Entrance antenna: Reads account information relayed from vehicle’s transponder. C. Light beams: Count vehicles and determine vehicle size. D. Exit antenna: Deducts toll from prepaid account. E. Camera: If account has zero balance, camera records license plate.

CASH: Choose lane marked “All Traffic.” Payment: Check display for toll amount; pay toll collector in booth or automatic coin machine. Drive through. After 10 p.m., exact change required. Camera: If toll is not paid, alarm sounds, camera records license plate.

GETTING A TRANSPONDER To obtain a FasTrak kit for your car, visit or call FasTrak office at 30 Fairbanks, Irvine. (800) 378-TRAK. Paying by credit card: $10 annual fee to become FasTrak customer, plus $30 in prepaid tolls. Paying by cash: Check or money order accepted. $10 annual FasTrak fee. $30 refundable equipment deposit. $35 in prepaid tolls. When prepaid balance drops below $10, deposit additional $25 by mail to keep account in good standing.

Source: Transportation Corridor Agencies