OCTA to Back Bid for River Tollway

County transportation officials will support a controversial and all-but-defunct proposal to build a $1-billion private toll road along the Santa Ana River, linking inland Orange County and beach cities.

Despite concerns that the project would have serious environmental consequences, the Orange County Transportation Authority voted Monday to support American Transportation Development’s request to extend its toll franchise for the so-called SR-57 Extension project. The project was one of four private toll road franchises approved by the Legislature in 1989. Only one of the private roads has been built.

Monday’s action was preceded by strong debate among OCTA members, one of whom said toll roads were the painful, if necessary, consequence of inadequate state funding for road construction.

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“We shouldn’t even have toll roads in Orange County,” said OCTA Director and Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer. “The whole toll road situation has unfortunately become a farce on the taxpayer.”

Instead of building toll roads, the state should use its $13-billion budget surplus to fund public road construction, Spitzer said. Still, he joined his colleagues in supporting the plan, saying the county needed to explore alternatives.

The franchise, which would allow the developer to essentially extend the Orange Freeway by building a private toll road between the Orange Crush interchange and the San Diego Freeway in Costa Mesa, was initially granted for 10 years and is due to expire in January.

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Because no work has been done on the route, and because the franchise has been transferred among several developer groups, many thought the project was dead. In recent months, however, American Transportation Development President Grant R. Holland has been negotiating with Caltrans officials in Sacramento to extend the franchise by six years. The toll road plan is profitable and would reduce county traffic congestion, he said.

“I think this approval is confirmation of the need for this route,” Holland said Monday. “It’s needed by the county and the entire region.”

Holland’s company is a joint venture between Interwest Co. of Arizona and Idaho’s Washington Group International. The developer has proposed transferring ownership of the road to a governmental or nonprofit agency after it is built.

OCTA officials agreed to back the project on two conditions: that it not get stuck paying for environmental studies and that the developer drops controversial no-compete provisions that prevent Caltrans from improving nearby public roadways. In return, Caltrans and the OCTA would refrain from building a parallel highway within five miles of the tollway.

Despite OCTA’s backing, it is still unclear whether developers would get a second chance to build the toll road. Caltrans officials have said privately they are reluctant to approve the extension, partly because of the perception that tollways are unsuccessful and politically unpopular. Publicly, however, Caltrans officials say they are willing to consider American Transportation Development’s proposal.

In backing the plan, some OCTA directors said the toll road has long been a part of the county’s overall transportation plan and shouldn’t be abandoned. “It’s important we preserve our options on this issue,” said Director and Mission Viejo Councilwoman Susan Withrow. “Ten years is a long time, but it took 20 years to get our existing toll roads established.”

Withrow cautioned that approval by Caltrans and environmental authorities was not a given.

The proposal has encountered heavy criticism from officials in Santa Ana and Fountain Valley, who say their cities would be divided and harmed by the toll road. Laurann Cook, the OCTA’s chairwoman and a Fountain Valley councilwoman, said the roadway would pollute the river and threaten the quality of drinking water. Along with Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva--a fellow transportation director--Cook urged colleagues to reject the proposal until Caltrans takes a stance.

Other critics fear that officials are repeating their experiences with the only private toll road that was successfully constructed--the 91 Express Lanes on the Riverside Freeway. With owners trying to sell that roadway, many observers consider the private road to be a failure. They are also angered by provisions that prevent the state from adding free lanes to the bottle-necked Riverside Freeway because it would be considered competition.

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River Route

A controversial proposal to build a $1 billion toll road along the Santa Ana River -- linking the Orange Crush and the San Diego Freeway -- is being backed by county transportation officials even though there is some sentiment it will never be built.