Southern Orange County cities and the county's largest landowner are stepping up their opposition to a proposed highway tunnel under the Santa Ana Mountains to Riverside County -- even as it continues to gain support.
Once seen as a longshot, the tunnel is emerging as the Inland Empire's latest hope for reducing chronic congestion on the Riverside Freeway -- the only major link between more affordable housing in Riverside County and job-rich Orange County.
The 11.5-mile tunnel would connect Interstate 15 in Corona to the Foothill-Eastern tollway in Irvine. Its most expensive version could cost at least $8.5 billion. Last week, the tunnel was designated one of several major alternatives warranting further study.
Of all the options, the budding rift over the tunnel has created the potential for a regional clash similar to the battle over a proposed airport at Orange County's closed El Toro Marine Corps base.
"There are candidates hoping to create an issue and get people fired up against the tunnel" in the same way public opinion formed against an airport at El Toro, said political consultant Scott Hart of Newport Beach. "It depends on whether it's successful. If it is, more candidates will make it an issue."
The El Toro dispute, which involved four countywide elections and more than $100 million in studies, commercials and campaigns, ended without an airport or any alternative to handle the region's growing demand for commercial air travel.
The tunnel has been a hot topic in southern Orange County this fall. Since October, the Irvine and Laguna Beach city councils have declared their opposition. The Lake Forest City Council wants transportation planners to give the tunnel a lower priority than other options. City officials contend that streets would be inundated with tens of thousands of motorists using it as a more convenient route to get to work, shopping or the beach.
A candidate in next year's South County supervisorial race has made opposition to "the terrible tunnel" a battle cry of her campaign, hoping to stir up voters against the idea. One of her glossy four-page mailers blares "Stop Them!" while showing a wave of Inland Empire traffic headed to the beach.
Meanwhile, the Irvine Co., Orange County's largest developer -- it once owned a fifth of the county -- has sought to scuttle the tunnel. It has proposed and strongly supported an alternate highway atop or adjacent to the Riverside Freeway.
