Poll Finds 58% Favor Foothill Extension

Drawing immediate fire from environmentalists, a new public opinion poll shows that the majority of Orange County residents support extending the controversial Foothill toll road through vast stretches of wildlife habitat in South County.

The proposed extension would be built from Oso Parkway in Mission Viejo to the San Diego Freeway at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Depending on which alternative is selected, the 16-mile route could pass through large tracts of open space and San Onofre State Beach.

Decision Research, a public opinion firm, conducted the poll for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, two joint-powers authorities responsible for building and operating the Foothill/Eastern and the San Joaquin toll roads. The findings were released Wednesday.

“People support finishing the system. This is good news. I’m encouraged and relieved,” said Susan Withrow, mayor pro tem of Mission Viejo and chairwoman of the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency board.

But Bill Corcoran, a conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club, criticized the poll as an expensive public relations ploy to create an illusion of support for the toll road as the permit process begins. He said the corridor agency has many difficult hurdles to overcome before the extension can be built.

“They are putting the cart before the horse,” Corcoran said. “The agency should be objectively working in good faith to determine the alternatives and effects on the environment. Instead, they are using public funds to try to show public support for a project that isn’t even approved.”

Pollsters interviewed a random sample of 1,201 registered voters across Orange County in May. Five hundred were in San Clemente, 400 in the rest of south Orange County and 301 in central and northern Orange County. The margin of error was 4.3% to 5.7%.

The poll, which cost about $48,000, is part of a $450,000 public relations effort by the Foothill Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency, which is seeking to finish the toll road that starts at the Riverside Freeway near Corona.

To avoid giving San Clemente a disproportionate influence in the poll, pollsters weighted the results based on the percentage of the county’s population each survey area represented.

Robert Meadows of Decision Research said the poll did not ask about specific alternatives, routes, or environmental problems that might be caused by construction. At least six paths are under consideration.

The Foothill extension would complete the 67 miles of planned toll roads under TCA control. The extension, however, faces a long and complicated approval process.

The survey found that 58% of Orange County residents supported construction of the Foothill extension, with the strongest backing centered in South County, where 67% favored the project.

The lowest level of support, about 53%, was in central and north Orange County. There was 54% support in San Clemente.

The findings are consistent with a corridor agency survey conducted in 1999 by Baldassare Associates. The poll of 600 county residents found that 75% supported completion of the toll road system.

Regarding the environment, Decision Research found that about 3 in 4 county residents said roads could be built and natural areas protected at the same time. A majority of residents also thought that roads were built in response to growth, rather than a cause of it.

The Foothill extension faces substantial opposition from environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, which has made stopping the toll road one of its national priorities. The proposed routes cross vast expanses of open space and habitat for endangered species.

“This proposal impacts wild places and livable communities,” said Corcoran. “This is nothing more than a developer’s dream for bringing urban sprawl to south Orange County.”

To help offset the impacts of past toll road construction, TCA officials say they have restored or preserved more than 2,000 acres of land to protect endangered plants and animals. They said they will continue the mitigation effort for the Foothill extension.

“I don’t discount the value of the Sierra Club or its credibility,” Withrow said. “But the poll shows that voters feel roads and the environment can coexist.”

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