ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A Bumpy Start

In the continuing flap over the section of a public road that is due to be folded into the San Joaquin Hills toll road, the tollway agency has said all along the explanation is simple: Nothing has changed; the inclusion of the public road was always planned.

It has been a rocky road. First the complaints, kept in a high profile recently by Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), received a boost in credibility from a finding by the state legislative counsel. The counsel this week found that Orange County and San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency officials apparently broke state law when they incorporated part of Newport Coast Drive into the tollway without first conducting hearings and filing an environmental impact report.

The opinion had no binding effect, and then the state attorney general’s office weighed in with an opinion completely to the contrary. But don’t blame the public if it is confused. As a gesture of good faith, the Orange County Board of Supervisors really should have highlighted the planned toll before turning over part of the road. The fact is, that even if a promised free detour is built, the public that looked to the opening of Newport Coast Drive as a handy, direct route from coastal points in the southern part of the county to the Corona del Mar and San Diego freeways will be inconvenienced without having had much say. That’s not a very good way to begin the relationship between a new toll road and its potential customers.