Public Support for Forest Link to Riverside County Will Be Gauged

County transportation officials approved a $50,000 study Monday to gauge public sentiment for a proposed highway through the Cleveland National Forest--a controversial link that would better connect Riverside County residents to their jobs in Orange County.

Worried that their counterparts in Riverside County are moving too rapidly on the proposal, Orange County Transportation Authority officials said the report is a must if they are to figure out whether to back or oppose a plan before it gains too much momentum.

“We certainly can’t make any decisions until we know what sort of problems we’re going to be facing,” said OCTA Chairwoman Laurann Cook, who is also a Fountain Valley city councilwoman. “Riverside County is moving really fast on this and we’re just not up to speed.”

OCTA has yet to vote on whether to support construction of a $3-billion link, which might include a tunnel to cut through the wooded hills separating the counties and most certainly would encounter heavy environmental opposition. But Riverside County supervisors and transportation commissioners have been steadily lining up support for such a project from state and federal officials.

Riverside supervisors recently gave state Sen. Joe Dunn, (D-Santa Ana) a helicopter ride over the planned route. Dunn, vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he favors construction of a new corridor between the counties.

The helicopter ride was particularly nettlesome to OCTA officials, who say they are being cut out of the process.

“We haven’t been offered that same opportunity. Riverside hasn’t expended as much energy as they should working with Orange County,” said Cook, who said she hopes the report will help Orange County officials make up lost ground.

The three-month study will record opinions on the proposal from local businesses, property owners and environmental interests, and it will evaluate other options. The study will also address ways in which proposed routes might conflict with Orange County’s network of toll roads. Operators of the toll roads have contractual protections that forbid the construction of roads that might reduce the number of drivers that use them.

On Monday, a spokesman for the Riverside County Transportation Commission said officials there welcomed news of the report and insisted that Riverside County was not cutting Orange County officials out of the loop. Spokesman John Standiford said Riverside County has been working for some time on several countywide transportation initiatives and was much further along in the process that Orange County.

“It’s true we’re moving fast,” Standiford said. “But our intention is not to slight Orange County. We need their involvement and we welcome it. Any progress on this corridor requires that both counties be involved.”

Discussion of a route through the forest has been fueled by worsening congestion on the Riverside Freeway. Increasingly, people with jobs in Orange County seek the more affordable housing in Riverside County but pay for it with long commutes.

As commuter frustration has grown, so has the resolve of Riverside County politicians to push for construction of a roadway. Leaders there have also initiated a drive to buy 10 miles of private toll road on the median of the Riverside Freeway to give commuters some elbow room.

Some in Riverside County say Orange County has failed to take enough initiative in dealing with the crunch and suggest that traffic problems, if left unchecked, will eventually take a heavy toll on Orange County businesses.

“This is a real problem,” Dunn said. “I don’t want to criticize officials in Orange County, but this issue hasn’t received the highest priority that I think it should. It’s a critical problem that’s going to be facing Orange County businesses.”

Riverside County officials are considering two routes for a freeway or toll road: from Cajalco Road in Corona to the Foothill tollway in Orange County, and from Lake Elsinore to a point in Orange County between the Rancho Santa Margarita area and San Juan Capistrano. The second is considered an alternative to the twisting Ortega Highway.