CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- A 10-mile, privately owned toll road aimed at easing congestion around the U.S.-Mexico border is being celebrated this weekend, with officials in San Diego County touting it as evidence they are taking a different path when it comes to battling traffic.
The South Bay Expressway, which opens to the public Monday, roughly parallels Interstate 5 about 15 miles east, running from the suburb of Bonita to the Otay Mesa border crossing.
It's only the second private toll road to be built in California and is part of a larger effort in San Diego County to reduce congestion by asking commuters to pay.
The county already charges solo drivers to use carpool lanes on a portion of Interstate 15 and is now considering a plan to do the same on some carpool lanes on freeway onramps.
San Diego County, along with Orange County, is at the forefront in California of private roads and "congestion pricing," in which motorists are charged to use certain roads based on the amount of traffic. Both President Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have hailed both concepts as ways of building new roads and reducing traffic.
Los Angeles earlier this year lost out on millions of dollars in federal transportation funding because it didn't have any congestion-pricing projects in the works. In response, the MTA agreed to develop a toll road plan that could be implemented in three years.
Officials in San Diego County think they can be a model for L.A. But some are skeptical, noting vast differences between the two cities and their freeway systems.
The record of publicly owned toll roads in California is decidedly mixed. In Orange County, a toll road that connects Yorba Linda with Irvine, Route 241, is doing well. But another one between San Juan Capistrano and Newport Beach, Route 73, has struggled.
Officials in San Diego County believe that the South Bay Expressway will be successful because it runs along a fast-growing suburban area and offers an alternative to the congested Interstate 5 border crossing in San Ysidro, the nation's busiest border crossing, where more than 35,000 vehicles pass daily.
"The road benefited as time passed and development filled in," said South Bay Expressway chief executive Greg Hulsizer. "It's not just in the path of development but in the midst of development."
