Highway Hookup

A 3.2-mile segment of toll road between Oso and Antonio parkways opens in Orange County Sunday, providing motorists a faster route to the San Diego Freeway.

One of the final links in the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor, the new miles will cost 50 cents per trip and should ease access to the toll road for residents of South County communities such as Las Flores and Wagon Wheel Canyon.

With the final seven miles of the Eastern toll road scheduled to open late next month, completing 51 miles of the planned 67-mile toll road system in the county, the toll road agencies are now focused on getting the Foothill South built.

The extension opening Sunday would be a key connector to the 16 miles of the so-called Foothill South, if the estimated $644-million project--still in the planning stages--is completed.

The effort may prove the most contentious so far in a road-building process that has been hobbled at times by opposition from environmentalists.

Some local activists have vowed to fight every step of the Foothill South’s construction, a road they contend would destroy some of the last pristine coastal land in Southern California. They also question whether ridership figures support the expansion.

“We look at the numbers of what business the existing roads are doing, and we really question the need,” said Pete DeSimone, who runs the National Audubon Society’s 4,000-acre Starr Ranch sanctuary in Dove Canyon. “It’s one thing to take it as far south as it is now. It’s a whole different ball game to go further.”

But toll road backers say the Foothill South is essential to the success of the transportation system in Orange County in the next century. Wally Kreutzen, who takes over as chief executive officer for the Transportation Corridor Agencies next week, has said seeing the Foothill South built is his main priority.

Supporters such as Kreutzen point out the number of toll road users has grown, suggesting some in Orange County have accepted reaching into their wallets if it gets them where they are going faster.

*

After falling 40% short of original traffic projections, the San Joaquin Hills tollway rebounded last year, growing 36% from July 1997 to July 1998, TCA spokeswoman Michele Sperl-Miller said. The 15-mile San Joaquin became the first toll road in Southern California when it opened in 1996.

More recently, the opening of the first 17 miles of the Eastern toll road boosted sales of FasTrak transponders, which electronically bill drivers, allowing them to use the roads without stopping to pay.

Before the Eastern opened in October, sales of transponders averaged about 6,000 a month. The first month the road was in operation, more than 17,000 were sold, toll road officials said.

About 95,000 cars a day are using the Eastern/Foothill corridor. Prior to the Eastern’s opening, about 42,000 cars a day used the 7 1/2 miles of the Foothill North that were already opened, according to toll road officials.

Figures indicating the success of the Eastern compared with projections have not been made available.

Although financing for the road was based in part on estimates of how many cars would use it daily over the next 20 years, the first projections are based on usage by the end of 2000. By then, planners estimate 48,000 cars a day will pass through the main toll plaza on the easternmost stretch of the toll road, said Sperl-Miller.

Latest Link

Another segment of the Foothill Toll Road will open Sunday. The 3.2-mile section will connect Oso and Antonio parkways. Motorists will pay a 50-cent fee to use it. The projection is that 5,600 cars a day will use it by 2000. There are about 22 miles yet to be completed in the toll-road system, which will total 67 miles when it is completed by 2003.