Toll Road Lives Again, This Time Hopefully Not Near the Coast

My local paper the San Diego Union Tribune, reports that the toll road fight is not over. The toll road agency originally wanted to share the pain for their gain, by ruining some of the best open areas in Southern California. However surprisingly the Bush Administration kiboshed the road. Now the agency must look at routes to the east.

They now have to choose between more sprawl in southern Orange County or building a toll road. The new proposed routes may cut through a proposed development in eastern San Clemente. I wish that the transportation authority would not try to couch a benefit for a developer as a regional transportation solution. Next week the backers are going to start to discuss their options.

Above are maps of the new proposed routes. Map by the U-T.

As for the environmental impacts of the previous plan:

On the environmental end, the transportation agency's leaders say building a four-to six-lane highway through the land conservancy and state park is the least ecologically damaging choice. They emphasize mitigation features such as wildlife crossings and efforts to avoid impinging on the famous Trestles surf spot.

But in February, the California Coastal Commission rejected the San Onofre alignment.

“It would be difficult to imagine a more environmentally damaging . . . location for the proposed toll road” and one that's more inconsistent with provisions of the Coastal Act, the commission's staff report said.

I never thought I would see the day that highways would potentially be fighting sprawl.