Proposed roadway takes too great a toll

Re “Ban on O.C. Tollway Is Removed From Budget,” June 13

The news that our state lawmakers removed language that would have protected San Onofre State Beach, one of our most famous state parks, from invasion by a toll road is shocking. This move will set a precedent by allowing other agencies to plan roads through other parks with total disregard to the important role that these places play.

The $875 million approved for the project could be put to better use by promoting train travel with connecting bus lines.

ILSE M. BYRNES

San Juan Capistrano

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When the Transportation Corridor Agencies spokespersons call the proposed Foothill South extension of the toll road through San Onofre State Beach Park and the Donna O’Neill Land Conservancy an “important infrastructure project that will do a lot to relieve traffic between Orange and San Diego counties,” you can smell the red herring.

This proposed boondoggle is a thinly veiled attempt to enable sprawl to metastasize into Orange County’s priceless open space. More development inevitably breeds more traffic, and the toll road intersection with Interstate 5 would become an El Toro Y of the south, with San Clemente trapped like a butterfly in a web of clogged roadways.

Californians can’t allow a small, single-purpose agency like the TCA to hijack the public interest by destroying our fifth-most-used state park, paving over our irreplaceable wild lands and, in the bargain, compounding our traffic woes. Let’s fix the 5; it’s our “free” way.

STEVE NETHERBY

San Clemente