People Pay, Pay, Pay for Toll Road

I had to laugh when I read the Nov. 10 article in which the Transportation Corridor Agencies report that 9,800 cars are using the San Joaquin Hills toll road.

From where I live in Laguna Beach, I have a bird’s-eye view of the toll road from Laguna Canyon Road to El Toro Road and into the hills of Aliso Viejo. The toll road in that area is not yet open.

However, the frontage roads, complete with tolls, are part of the seven-mile segment that opened earlier this year.

I have never seen more than a handful of cars go through the tolls at any given time--even the morning and evening rush hours. The road is virtually untraveled during the day and after 7 p.m.

So, where are the other thousands of cars? They’re on the free connector from El Toro Road to Laguna Canyon Road.

Since that portion is also part of the toll road system, I must assume that’s the “seven-mile segment” that the TCA is using for its traffic count. The TCA neglected to mention that about 95% of those cars have circumvented the toll on the frontage road (at El Toro Road). Northbound commuters use Aliso Creek Road for access to El Toro Road and the connector. Southbound commuters use the free connector to El Toro Road, then use Aliso Creek Road to travel farther south.

I believe no one really knew that this road would be so expensive--in more ways than one. In order to avoid the freeway congestion and save the kind of time the TCA is talking about, people will have to drive through the Mainline toll plaza.

Regardless of where you enter the toll road, it you go through the Mainline plaza, the toll is $2. I think it is highly improbable that the average working-class person will pay $4 a day to go back and forth to work--no matter how much time it saves.

In addition, the minute the road is fully operational, maintenance becomes the responsibility of Caltrans. So, people who don’t use even use the road are paying for it, albeit indirectly.

Of course, only a review of the revenue figures will determine if this road is “successful.” However, even if revenue falls short, which they undoubtedly will, there is a federal guarantee in place to make the investors whole. So. in the end, people pay not once, but three times. What a deal.

VANESSA SPRUNGL

Laguna Beach