Letter: Nothing Has Changed Regarding the Toll Road

Kerry Sink, San Clemente

So, here we go again—the debate over not the toll road itself, but its trajectory through San Clemente.

Now, Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) has new and unexplored options to run its road in multiple ways to reach the end goal. Linking Toll Road 241 to Interstate 5. The obvious choice is this: connect the existing terminus at Oso Parkway, down Antonio Parkway to Avenida La Pata and out through San Mateo. The only sensible way is to revisit the Navy’s and the Marines’ claims related to national security.

Creating a plan that does not encroach on either the military base or the Trestles surf beach and protects any and all natural areas is actually not that farfetched. The toll road did not ruin Laguna Canyon and it won’t ruin Trestles, if measures are taken to just be careful. It all depends on location and execution.

What is the goal of this toll road? To alleviate gridlock in South Orange County, or to provide another exit in case of a nuclear waste spill or other disasters. But is there another factor?

I think everybody knows that the TCA has its heart set on finishing this project, but will the toll road ever recoup its investment? How many users will actually pay to get to the Riverside area. Will it ever turn a profit?

I personally think that the TCA is a sham, totally in cahoots with the state and Department of Motor Vehicles, just generating revenue while knowing it will never reach fruition. I mean really, with as much as this state pays in gas and registration fees and other taxes, these roads should be free. We don’t really get a say in the building or location of any of this.

So, what are we going to do, and do we really have a say? It only makes sense to me that the toll road should have been planned to go from Oso to San Mateo. Avenida La Pata should have been four lanes in each direction and at minimum be directed to Avenida Pico until a deal could have been worked out with the military. Now, because of wasteful intolerance and lack of cooperation on all parts, we will have perpetual gridlock in San Clemente. Nothing changed, no common ground and nothing accomplished.