Once the dust settled from the U.S. Commerce Department's refusal last week to back a proposed toll road extension through south Orange County, one thing became clear: Traffic planners have a problem.
Environmentalists who had railed against the proposed Foothill South route because of its potential effect on wetlands and San Onofre State Beach are clamoring for Interstate 5 to be widened instead. But no funding exists for that, and it would require bulldozing homes and businesses.
The Transportation Corridor Agencies, the group that wants to build the 16-mile turnpike to connect the existing 241 toll road to Interstate 5 in north San Diego County, said a group of federal and state agencies studied dozens of alternate routes, but the best one was shot down.
"It would really be nice if someone would actually come up with something that worked for everyone," said Tom E. Margro, chief executive of the Transportation Corridor Agencies, adding that he's willing to meet with anti-road advocates.
The group is keeping its options wide open, Margro said, including not discarding its preferred route despite federal officials having upheld its veto by the Coastal Commission.
The agency could sue the Commerce Department, reconvene federal and state agencies to choose a new route or do nothing. Deciding whether to pursue litigation, however, is the top priority, Margro said.
"Nothing's off the table at this point," he said.
Opponents of the turnpike, eager to see what the toll road board decides at its meeting next month, are urging the agency to abandon its preferred route and join them in finding a new solution.
"At some point, the elected officials need to read the writing on the wall and shift gears into doing something constructive," said Dan Silver, executive director of the Endangered Habitats League, part of the Save San Onofre Coalition that fought the road.
The route in question was selected by a group of federal and state agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and Caltrans. The elimination process stretched over three decades, began with roughly 30 possible routes and cost about $180 million for engineering and research. Some choices were rejected because they dipped too far into the Camp Pendleton Marine base; others were tossed because they would have destroyed hundreds of homes or wildlife habitat.
