Why Tollways Are Costly Roads to Ruin

Toll roads don’t pay for themselves. Maintenance is the taxpayers’ burden.

Caltrans estimates that replacing 36 of the 39 existing filter systems on the San Joaquin Hills tollway with the test systems will cost $13.3 million. This will be paid for by taxpayers, not by tolls. At the same time, they want to repair bumps on the Foothill/Eastern. What will these repairs cost?

Supervisor Tom Wilson still wants the extension of the Foothill South. This 16-mile extension is projected to dump into Interstate 5 at San Onofre State Beach. It will need filters to be legal. Will Orange County taxpayers face millions of dollars in filter repairs every season we have storms? Or will we just let the ocean ecosystem die? Toll roads don’t work. It’s time to make our politicians face this.

Marni Magda

Laguna Beach