Toll Increase Right Road to Take?

It’s never been any secret that ridership would be a problem for the quasi-public San Joaquin Hills toll road. But for much of the period before the 15-mile tollway opened, environmental concerns about a road cutting through pristine coastal hills got at least as much public attention as did the financing question.

Rosy projections now have had to be measured against actual rider usage. Traffic has fallen a substantial 20% below estimates. That matters because the debt to finance construction is supposed to be repaid through toll collection, as well as developer fees.

So now to generate an extra $2.3 million to $4 million a year, the Transportation Corridor Agencies have said they will boost rates at coin-operated access points. Looking at the situation at two ramps where tolls are supposed to double in July is instructive.

Bonita Canyon Road is currently affected by congestion resulting from early work for a new housing development in Irvine. That road is important because it feeds traffic from south Irvine into MacArthur Boulevard for travel to all points northbound.

The alternative reliever road is the tollway itself, which now costs 25 cents at Bonita Canyon but is scheduled to go to 50 cents. Motorists going north don’t get much of a ride because it’s such a short transit from the toll exit to the first free access at Bison. But it’s an important reliever point, and one worth keeping at a price motorists will think is a bargain.

For those getting on at Newport Coast Drive, congestion also is a problem. Should drivers entering there decide not pay $1 instead of 50 cents, the alternatives are to funnel into the Bonita Canyon Road area, meander into Corona Del Mar, or go back to Pacific Coast Highway at Crystal Cove. Those routes are the very bottlenecks the toll road was supposed to relieve.

Either way, the inexpensive incentives are being replaced with a question mark: Is it worth it to pay extra? Motorists now will think twice as they fish for change in the coin box.

The proposal already has city officials in Newport Beach concerned, and rightly so. The TCA has acknowledged that it anticipates some effect on riders’ choices.

It stands to reason that more people will use the roads if they cost less, not more.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street bond-rating agencies have declared that ratings on these roads remain low. The continued financial problems of the San Joaquin toll road ought to prompt a reexamination of the inevitability of going forward with other toll projects.