Shortcut in South County

Beginning Wednesday, rush-hour commuters traveling between Laguna Niguel and Laguna Canyon Road should be able to make that stretch in less than seven minutes compared with the usual 35.

With the first seven-mile stretch of the new San Joaquin Hills tollway opening, transportation officials say, this alternative route to the San Diego Freeway should be a snap.

“This is the flagship,” Paul Glaab, a spokesman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, said of the toll road that ultimately will take drivers 15 miles from Laguna Niguel to Newport Beach. “It will provide South County commuters with incredible relief, making a significant contribution to their quality of life.”

Not everyone, however, is happy at the prospect of the extra traffic the partially completed toll road is expected to dump onto Laguna Canyon Road.

“I think it’s crazy,” said Sandy Bush, president of the Laguna Canyon Property Owners Assn. “It’s the disaster down the street. We don’t need any more traffic out here during the summer.”

Transportation agency officials estimate the opening of the toll road initially will add about 300 cars during the morning rush hour and about 500 every evening to Laguna Canyon Road, which is especially congested during the summer.

County Supervisor Marian Bergeson, a member of the transportation agency’s board, said she is working with it to develop ways of mitigating potential traffic problems. Among the suggestions: encouraging drivers to exit at other offramps and relying on the toll road’s various connectors to siphon traffic past particularly clogged points of Laguna Canyon Road.

“It’s only a temporary problem,” Bergeson said of the increased traffic. “As soon as the entire toll road is open, we won’t have that problem.”

That is expected to happen sometime in December, about three months ahead of schedule. The project is the cornerstone of three major toll roads in South County, about 70 miles of highway altogether, which have been under construction since 1993 and are expected to be completed by 2003.

By opening the first road early, agency officials said, they will get a head start on collecting tolls, some of which will go to the contractor as a bonus for beating the original deadline and the rest of which will go toward defraying the cost of construction.

“It’s been a great incentive for them,” agency spokeswoman Michele Sperl-Miller said of the contractor’s bonus. “I think it’s a good deal; if you can do it and it works and it gets people using the road earlier, why not? It’s good for public service.”

*

Ultimately, Glaab said, the $1.5-billion San Joaquin Hills tollway will shave at least 30 minutes off the drive from Laguna Niguel to John Wayne Airport, which currently takes 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

“It will be an incredible improvement to the daily commute time, affording an alternative to the existing [Santa Ana and San Diego] freeways,” he said. “It will give people more time for their families and for leisure.”

The first seven-mile stretch will open about 4 p.m. Wednesday to commuters willing to pay fares from 50 cents to $1, depending on the length of their trip.

The money can be paid either in cash, Glaab said, or by using a device called a transponder that adheres to a car’s windshield and allows a monitoring device to electronically debit an account set up by the driver. Commuters who already have established accounts for the 91 Express Lanes, Glaab said, may use the same transponder and account for the new toll road. And for those unaccustomed to carrying exact change, he said, the system temporarily will employ toll collectors in booths at Laguna Canyon and El Toro roads instead of the automatic collection boxes located elsewhere.

“Taking money is always slower,” he said. “But we recognize that as people make the transition from freeways to tollways, this is an opportunity to facilitate them while encouraging them to either carry correct change or, better yet, acquire a transponder.”

The devices can be obtained for free (or with a $30 deposit if you have no credit card) at either of the agency’s two service centers in Laguna Niguel and Irvine.

“We wanted to make this a seamless system for commuters,” Glaab said.

*

Those who use the new road without paying the toll will be fined $76. Their license plates will be photographed automatically by video cameras.

At least 2,000 future users of the new road already have opted for transponders in anticipation of its opening, according to service center workers.

“It’s been great,” said Sharon Kuyper, supervisor of the Laguna Niguel center. “A lot of people are really excited.”

One of them is Art Welch of Mission Viejo, who said he has three transponders for the various cars he drives as an installer of real estate signs.

“This is the best thing going,” Welch said of the soon-to-open toll road. “It’s going to free my time up a lot. I’ll save the toll money in gas alone.”