Orange County Weighs Freeway Through Forest

Orange County transportation officials grappled Monday with the ambitious idea of building a $2-billion to $3-billion freeway through the Cleveland National Forest, a plan that Riverside County officials insist would improve chronic traffic congestion between the two economically linked counties.

Meeting with their Riverside counterparts, members of the Orange County Transportation Authority reviewed outlines for three possible routes through the forest and listened as Riverside officials appealed to them for financial and political assistance. In the end, Orange County officials said they were in no political position to commit to such a plan, but told Riverside officials that they were interested in studying the idea further.

“To ask us for a commitment at this point is premature,” said Laurann Cook, Transportation Authority chairwoman and Fountain Valley City Council member. “We want to be a helping neighbor, but we need to catch up. We need more time.”

Although Riverside officials say the road would not require legislative action, it must win approval from numerous county, state and federal authorities, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the 135,000 acres of federal wilderness that straddle the border between Orange and Riverside counties.

At Monday’s meeting in Anaheim Hills, Riverside County Transportation Commission members said there is a dire need for a new route between the counties. With increasing numbers of Orange County employees seeking affordable housing in Riverside County, officials there said constituents were demanding solutions to commuter gridlock.