State's future may be paved with fees

"This should only be a beginning," Mark Pisano, executive director of the Southern California Assn. of Governments, said of the projects approved in May. At a recent legislative hearing, Pisano told lawmakers that his organization wants to work with private companies to build a controversial 8-mile tunnel that would link the 710 Freeway to Pasadena, a project estimated to cost at least $2 billion.

Federal transportation officials are cheering these planners on.

"This is the next step," said Tyler Duvall, assistant secretary for transportation policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation. He flew to Sacramento from Washington last month to urge legislators to build more toll roads, preferably in partnership with the private sector.

"Every single private investor cites California as the dream place to invest," he said.

Currently, the state has 82 miles of toll roads -- the first of which opened in 1993 in southern Orange County -- and drivers make about 590,000 trips on them daily. Tolls vary by route and time of day.

A short hop on the 73 tollway can cost as little as 50 cents. A one-way trip on the 10-mile-long 91 Express Lanes at rush hour can come to $9.25.

*

Many drivers opposed

The American Automobile Assn. in California, which has more than 6 million members, does not oppose tolls on new roads. But many drivers do.

"The lifestyle we have in this state is the result of our freeways," said Pete Van Nuys, a San Clemente salesman who says he drives up to 60,000 miles a year. "If I have a small business, I should be able to drive and deliver goods and services without having to pay onerous tolls."

Some taxpayer groups say the state should make better use of existing resources.

"We shouldn't have to resort to toll roads," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. "There are a host of studies showing we are simply not using our transportation dollars wisely. Before we dream up new ways to raise revenue, we should get smarter about how we use the money we have."

Democrats have long resisted private toll roads, pointing to problems that have arisen in the state's few experiments with private roadways. California, which once was a pioneer in public-private partnerships, soured on the idea after some high-profile missteps.