U.S. Agencies Raise Concerns on Toll Road

SANTA ANA — Although Orange County’s toll road agency is poised to approve a $16-million design contract today for the final link in its countywide tollway network, two federal agencies that must first give approval have raised serious concerns over whether there’s a need for the road at all.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have repeatedly voiced doubts about the project, including whether future traffic demands support the need for a $644-million toll road connecting Oso Parkway near Mission Viego with the San Diego Freeway in south Orange County, according to federal documents.

“We continue to have significant concerns regarding the project purpose and need, the lack of defined study area, and the use of outdated information,” a top corps regulatory official wrote to federal highway officials last fall.

The two agencies must approve the need for the Foothill South toll road before the lengthy federal environmental review process can begin. If the agencies do not agree that the road is needed, completing the project would be difficult, said Brad Keazer, assistant division administrator with the Federal Highway Administration in Sacramento.

“It is still possible, but it is very difficult,” Keazer said Wednesday.

The dispute is so intense that if no agreement is reached by next week, it may trigger a special arbitration process never before used in California, federal officials said.

“This is relatively unusual. Normally, we don’t have these kinds of issues on a project,” said David Carlson, an EPA scientist.

Three Orange County congressmen sent a terse letter dated May 4 to several key figures, including Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and EPA Administrator Carol Browner, complaining about the delay. The congressmen also said the corps, the EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “have raised issues that seem clearly to be beyond the realm of their respective legislative authorities.”

The letter was signed by Reps. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).