Legal Bid Fails; Newport Coast Drive to Close

A group of Orange County residents on Monday lost a last-minute legal bid to prevent today’s scheduled closure of a stretch of Newport Coast Drive connecting Irvine to Coast Highway.

Lawyers for the group, the Newport Coast Drive Defense Fund, asked Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the road’s closure.

But McDonald ruled that members of the group could not prove they would suffer “irreparable harm” by the closure. After denying their request, the judge said he will listen to the group’s arguments for a preliminary injunction Aug. 10.

The judge’s ruling clears the way for the 10 a.m. closure of a 1 1/2-mile section of the road for one year to 19 months while workers make it part of the controversial San Joaquin Hills toll road.

An estimated 20,000 daily commuters will be diverted at Bonita Canyon Road onto a 1 1/4-mile detour that will land them one mile south of the usual connecting point on MacArthur Boulevard.

Jim Toldedano, a lawyer for the group of residents, said his clients still believe they will prevail in opposing the “conversion of an existing public road for toll purposes.”

But a lawyer for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, the future operator of the toll road, said that the agency has the legal authority to impose the toll.