FOUNTAIN VALLEY

Mayor John Collins isn’t going to make a stink about the extension of the Orange Freeway into his city--yet. Although strongly against the toll road proposal, Collins said that before he takes action, he’ll wait for the freeway development company to decide whether the project is financially feasible.

Interwest Cos., a Phoenix-based toll road developer, owns the rights to build an 11-mile toll road above the Santa Ana River from the Orange Crush--where traffic jams at the intersection of the Santa Ana, Orange and Garden Grove freeways--to the San Diego Freeway in Fountain Valley. Construction of the toll road, which would rise about 30 feet above the riverbed, would cost about $600 million to $700 million, said Grant Holland, the company’s vice president of finance. “We are . . . updating construction estimates and looking at the revenue that can be generated by the road,” he said. Interwest will make its determination in the fall, Holland said.

Collins contends the numbers won’t support the project. But if the company decides to follow through with it, he said the city will voice its concerns during the environmental report process.