IRVINE : Opposition to San Joaquin Hills Toll Road Bypass Expected at Council Meeting

Tollway opponents say they will urge City Council members tonight to deny approval for construction of a bypass to the planned San Joaquin Hills toll road.

The proposed route is intended to provide a toll-free bypass to the 1 1/2-mile section of Newport Coast Drive that will become part of the toll road.

In March, council members agreed under protest to amend the city’s General Plan to include the bypass but also sent notice to county officials that the city would not “fund or initiate construction” of the route.

“If the city of Irvine stood up and said, ‘This is our road, you have no right to take it,’ then they’d have to work something out,” said Jim Toledano, a Costa Mesa lawyer who filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Corridor Agencies in September.

Toledano, chairman of the county Democratic Party, represents a group of Newport Beach homeowners who contend the use of Newport Coast Drive for the new toll road is illegal.

The city is being asked by county transportation officials to declare segments of Newport Coast and nearby Bonita Canyon drives as county highways to clear the way for construction of the $10.5-million route.

The city also would be required to pay for periodic inspections of the construction, which is expected to take at least a year. And after completion, the city would pay $6,000 a year to maintain the bypass route.

Councilwoman Christina L. Shea said she is troubled that two county-funded Irvine transportation projects are being delayed. The money is needed for construction of the bypass route, she said. Shea also questioned why the cost of maintaining the route would revert to the city.

Although council members publicly opposed the bypass, they approved the route under threat of losing as much as $4 million in county transportation funds.