Tony Hays, San Clemente
At the Toll Road Town Hall meeting held on Oct. 24 at the Community Center auditorium, representatives of the IBI Group, who had performed a traffic analysis for South Orange County for the year 2040 under contract to the City of San Clemente, presented results of their study. They showed that the potential Route 241 toll road extension would have a negligible effect on overall traffic relief in the area.
This would have been a good opportunity for the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) representatives on the panel to dispute the IBI Group’s analysis, but they didn’t even make an effort. The IBI report used the Orange County Transportation Authority’s own traffic forecast numbers, so it would be pointless to try.
Yet the TCA is plowing ahead with a $2 billion project that will never make money and destroy the city of San Clemente in the process. They don’t even pretend that the toll road extension will provide significant traffic relief. The toll road extension will, however, serve as a lasting monument to the TCA’s arrogance and self-interest. Politicians love to have their names attached to anything made of concrete, so if the toll road extension were to be built, it would be fitting for the City of San Clemente to erect a small monument with a prominent brass plaque somewhere on Avenida Del Mar, listing the names of those TCA board members who voted for the extension, and those who opposed it, so that future generations would know who was responsible for this monstrosity
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