Toll Roads

You can hang any number of shiny baubles on a mistake, like ornaments on a Christmas tree, but when you're done, all you've really got is a bad idea -- with glitter. Congestion pricing is just that sort of bad idea.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday set the tolls that for the first time will allow solo motorists to drive in carpool lanes on two of the region's most congested freeways. Los Angeles' first experiment with so-called congestion-based pricing is slated to begin in late 2010 or early 2011.

If they can win a huge federal grant, Los Angeles County transportation officials said Tuesday that rush-hour toll lanes could become a reality on three local freeways by spring 2009. The prediction underscored what has been a radical turnaround for leaders who only eight months ago were reluctant to do anything more than study "congestion pricing" as a way to discourage drivers when freeways are clogged.

Backing away from his neutral stance, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday urged the California Coastal Commission to approve a controversial tollway in Orange County that would pass through San Onofre State Beach, one of California's most popular parks. "I have concluded that this project is essential to protect our environment and the quality of life for everyone in California," Schwarzenegger said in a letter to Patrick Kruer, chairman of the Coastal Commission.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, saying he was "deeply disappointed" by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's support for a toll road extension through San Onofre State Beach, called on the state Coastal Commission to reject the project. The toll road shouldn't be built, Lockyer said Thursday, because "it would cut through the heart" of California's sixth-most-popular state park.

In a blow to toll road planners in Orange County, President Bush signed an amended military bill this week that would require them to follow potentially restrictive state environmental laws. The tollway, which would complete Orange County's network of turnpikes, would cut across San Onofre State Beach, a popular camping and surfing spot. The amendment to the military authorization bill was pushed by Rep. Susan A. Davis (D-San Diego).

In one of the region's great environmental showdowns, the California Coastal Commission is set to decide Wednesday whether to approve a controversial toll road through San Onofre State Beach -- a popular park filled with endangered species, old Indian sites and famous surf spots.

Surfers are basking in glory after the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday dealt what might be a death blow to a proposed toll-road extension that would have blazed a six-lane expressway through pristine San Onofre State Beach. And deservedly so. Surfers did not win the decade-long battle, of course. Environmental groups were also on board and, ultimately, common sense among the commission panel prevailed in the form of an 8-2 vote of disapproval.

The apparent demise of a toll road through San Onofre State Beach could have a domino effect on funding for other Southern California transportation projects, a regional planning authority said this week. A letter sent to Orange County transportation planners by the Southern California Assn. of Governments warns that if the Foothill South tollway is not built, another project must be substituted in SCAG's Regional Transportation Plan.

Transportation officials are so intent on building a toll road through south Orange County that they refuse to remove it from long-range plans, even though a powerful state commission has vetoed the route. Frustrated environmentalists and others said this week that the Orange County Transportation Authority's reluctance to change its assumption that the Foothill South tollway through San Onofre State Beach will be built amounts to "putting their head in the sand."