Legislator Seeks Revival of Toll Road Project

Seeking to revive a dormant effort to extend the Orange Freeway as a toll road, Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) is seeking bipartisan support for proposed legislation to let a consortium of agencies develop the project.

The extension would run from the “Orange Crush”--the bottleneck of the Orange, Santa Ana and Garden Grove freeways--to the San Diego Freeway, a stretch of about eight miles.

Although the extension would provide an essential link through the heart of Orange County, the tollway, which would be built over the Santa Ana River, has drawn strong opposition from those who live nearby and are concerned about possible noise and the impact on traffic.

Under Baugh’s plan, the new partnership would replace an engineering firm that had won exclusive rights to extend the freeway under a 1989 state project to try privatizing public highways.

Those rights, which expire in about a year, are held by Greiner Inc., originally in partnership with Texas billionaire Ross Perot. Greiner has not been able to move ahead with the project.

If the company falters, Baugh’s legislation would ensure an alternative way to build the freeway, thereby holding its place on a very short list of approved sites for toll roads.

Greiner has not given up hope.

“We are still working on trying to get project money,” said Jack Waldron, vice president of Greiner in Santa Ana.