Some More Calculations on Toll Roads

* Re “Toll Road Miscalculations,” Sept. 12 editorial:

The Times could not be more wrong about the toll roads.

Hundreds of thousands of motorists just like me are making the choice to use the toll roads every day.

I work in outside sales, and my territory is South County, so I use the toll roads constantly. The toll roads allow me to be far more productive, and my clients benefit from my using the roads.

The toll roads give me more time at the end of the day to enjoy all the benefits of living in Orange County.

STACY BAKER

Newport Beach

* I commend your editorial.

It’s about time that the public was clued in to just how unsuccessful the Transportation Corridor Agencies have been in their toll-road efforts.

TCA’s revenue estimates ran up to 40% over reality; pavement caused accidents in the rain and had to be replaced at taxpayers’ expense; fences couldn’t keep the native wildlife off the road and resulted in senseless slaughter of numerous animals and a human; and the famed transponder tax--first it’s free and now it’s not.

There is no clear need for another toll road.

The proposed Foothill South toll road nearly duplicates the route of the free Antonio Parkway and will cost taxpayers more than its proponents would have the public believe.

The high cost of maintaining a toll road will come out of taxpayers’ pockets upon completion of its construction, while any earnings from drivers using the toll road would go to the private toll road investors.

Antonio Parkway addresses the need for traffic relief without damaging prime wetlands and numerous endangered species that lie in the path of the proposed toll road.

JULIA DEWEES

San Clemente

* Since when is preparation such a bad thing?

If it were not for the planning of the toll roads, I would be spending an extra 40 minutes commuting to and from work each day.

If it had waited until traffic grew to total gridlock, the county would be a mess and any economic growth we have been enjoying would be stifled.

Instead, the toll roads have led the way so that as growth continues, we as a county will be prepared.

KATHERINE WALKER

Aliso Viejo

* Terrific editorial on the “Toll Road Miscalculations.”

But after paragraphs of objective reporting, why compromise the truth with the sentence “Maybe the backers of the toll road are correct, but they will need to present convincing evidence.”

The evidence is in. You state it correctly. The toll road concept in South Orange County is profitable only to land developers.

Now that the existing toll roads are proving to be huge financial white elephants to South County taxpayers, let us forever remove all “maybes” from the objections raised to further toll road construction in South County.

To quote Nancy Reagan, “Let’s just say no.”

If negative financial considerations aren’t enough to convince taxpayers to stop the toll road boondoggle, [consider] pollution.

Toll roads breed development. Development breeds urban pollution. Toll roads ultimately become major tax burdens.

For the developers, a toll road means hundreds of millions of dollars’ profit. For the taxpayer, it’s higher and higher taxes and massive amounts of additional pollution.

All experts, local and federal, agree that after everything’s built, traffic will be worse, beaches will be polluted, taxes will be higher, toll roads will become a bigger and bigger financial burden, and developers’ wallets will overflow with contaminated dollars.

JERRY COLLAMER

San Clemente

* I am a FasTrak account holder writing in response to the editorial “Toll Road Miscalculations.”

If someone predicted that the Broncos would go to the Super Bowl and ended up being wrong, he might be harassed for a while.

If someone predicted that mass chaos would occur on Jan. 1, 2000, and ended up being wrong, people would thank him for preparing for the worst.

Predictions are basically “guesses in advance.” Why can’t The Times realize that and stop printing story after story about the toll roads’ transactions?

I predict that some day you will realize that negative stories will not demolish the road and restore the habitat. Was that a prediction, or more of a wish?

I like the toll roads, and by the looks of it so do the thousands of motorists that I see on the roads every day.

JERI SERRATO

Lake Forest

* The “Toll Road Miscalculations” were not miscalculations at all, but rather excessively unrealistic optimistic estimations not based on factual information.

The purpose was pushing through an unneeded and unwanted road.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies is now trying to use the same tactics to force the toll road extension through San Onofre State Beach.

It claims, among other things, that the road will divert 25% of the traffic from Interstate 5 through San Clemente, when in fact no evidence exists to justify this assumption.

If anything, the road will increase traffic on I-5. Witness the TCA’s advertising campaigns to go out for a drive on the Foothill and Eastern roads, which go from the I-5 in the Irvine area to the 91 freeway.

All vehicles on this toll road must go onto these already busy freeways. Another consideration the TCA has failed to address is reduction of property values of homes in San Clemente adjacent to the proposed toll road, with subsequent loss of tax revenue due to the reduced assessment of these homes.

At least 100 houses are within half a mile of the proposed route, some only a few hundred feet. And because many families move or want to move to South County because of the parks and open spaces, introduction of the road and related development will make this area a less-desirable location, further reducing property values.

CALVIN HECHT

San Clemente

* In reading the editorial, I was struck by the sentence “These economic miscalculations make it imperative that there be no rush to pour pavement for yet another toll road, known as the Foothill South.”

I fully concur and suggest a 20-year moratorium on the Foothill South.

Instead, for South Orange County traffic east of Interstate 5, it is most important to connect the Antonio Parkway (via La Pata) to San Clemente.

This connection would be much cheaper and less destructive of wild habitat than the Foothill South and would take considerable traffic off I-5.

I hope the state, county and cities of San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano will cooperate now in planning, funding and building this connection.

PAUL CARLTON

San Clemente

* After reading yet another news article (Sept. 4) about how the new $1-a-month transponder fee is achieving the desired results for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, I have to ask: Who the heck is running their marketing department? They seem to do everything backward.

First they raise the toll on the 73 tollway from $2 each way to $2.25. That’s a sure way to increase ridership.

Didn’t anyone ever take a basic economics course and study the laws of supply-and-demand elasticity? I travel a lot in my work, and I can tell you from experience that it costs less than a buck and a half in tolls, for example, to drive from Chicago to Milwaukee. Or from Topeka to Kansas City.

You can go one-fourth of the way across the state of New York for that money. Why does it cost so much to go from San Juan Capistrano to Costa Mesa?

And in most areas of the country, they give you a discount on the tolls if you use a free transponder because it means they don’t have to pay as much in labor costs to have so many tollbooth collectors.

If the TCA had been smart in marketing, they would have sold the transponders for that $30 each, instead of taking a deposit and giving them away.

The people who wanted a transponder for reasons of convenience would have bought them. All the lawyers and CPAs in South County would have paid for them.

The TCA wouldn’t have those maintenance or replacement costs. And they could have reduced their labor costs.

But no, TCA now has to charge extra because they’re losing money on them. I wonder if they ever consider the ramifications of the marketing moves they make. They must not, judging by their track record.

Even though I disliked the idea of paying $2.25 each way, I started experimenting with the San Joaquin Hills tollway. I discovered quickly that the 73 has its own traffic jams--from about Jamboree Road northbound to the 405 in the morning and roughly the same distance southbound in the evening.

That’s no incentive in comparison to the freeway. At least any jams on the 405 are free of tolls.

I would use the tollway if they made it worth my while, and they could do that with good marketing of a service that provides fair value.

Instead, they’ve turned the toll roads from a utilitarian alternative into an elitist option.

DON ALLEN

Laguna Hills