Change in Direction on Toll Road Plans

A consortium of federal and state road builders and environmental agencies said Tuesday they are studying options other than the controversial Foothill South Transportation Corridor to ease traffic congestion in South Orange County.

For the first time in two years, the group disclosed the results of its closed-door meetings to evaluate proposed toll routes and alternative upgrades to existing roadways.

The options now include:

* Expanding Antonio Parkway and Avenida La Pata into eight-lane, fast-moving roads with synchronized lights to keep traffic moving and possible freeway-style flyovers and interchanges at key cross streets.

* Adding a carpool lane and regular traffic lane in both directions on Interstate 5 and overhauling all intersections.

* Three possible toll road corridors with numerous variations.

* No upgrades other than those already planned for existing roads by Caltrans and local officials.

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The last option brought loud cheers from more than 250 residents, environmentalists and others who jammed a San Juan Capistrano community room to hear the proposals.

Despite those cheers, however, both opponents and proponents of the toll road option left the meeting disappointed.

For officials of the Transportation Corridor Agencies, the presentation spelled trouble for their favored option, a route that would swing eastward to Camp Pendleton. TCA officials say that option holds the key to solving Orange County’s traffic woes but now must compete against five others for environmental approval.

“It’s just that much more heavy lifting that needs to be done,” agency spokesman Peter Buffa said.

For officials in San Clemente, where one proposed toll road route would go, the final choice is viewed as critical to residents’ quality of life. After Tuesday’s session, one toll road opponent, a newly elected City Council member, said her fears were not laid to rest.

“I’m still worried,” said Stephanie Dorey, who campaigned on an anti-toll road platform. “I think these other options are a smoke screen. . . . I think they’re still going to try to ram the toll road down our throat.”

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For environmentalists, who say the route would devastate one of Southern California’s most sensitive regions and invite sprawling development, Tuesday’s presentation failed to present enough options not involving toll roads.

“I’m disappointed that the majority of the options they offered are variations on a toll road,” said Bill Corcoran of the Sierra Club’s Angeles chapter. “I think they haven’t yet learned the lesson that we can’t build our way out of congestion.”

The next step is to evaluate which option would be most practical and least harmful to the environment. Studies to determine that could take two years, officials said.

There is a growing list of imperiled species with which TCA officials must contend as they try to win approvals for a toll road. Earlier Tuesday, that list grew when federal wildlife officials designated critical habitat for the endangered tidewater goby fish in an area that includes part of TCA’s preferred toll road route.

The closed-door mediation between transportation and federal officials was made possible by federal legislation meant to streamline the environmental permit process The result has been far from streamlined, however.

Conducted by CONCUR Inc. of Santa Cruz, the process was expected to last only six months. Instead it has stretched to almost three years. TCA officials in particular have complained that mediation has severely delayed development of the toll corridor.

The negotiations prompted toll officials to announce last year that the road’s anticipated completion date was being pushed back from 2003 to 2006. Now TCA officials say the road won’t be completed before 2007.

Frustrated toll road officials say the delays have undermined support for the project and fueled public skepticism.

They also have had to foot the bill for the mediator: almost $600,000.