Panel Rejects Toll-Road Bill
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SACRAMENTO — An Assembly committee Monday rejected a bill by a Huntington Beach assemblyman that would have allowed county supervisors to authorize building toll roads parallel to other public highways to reduce traffic congestion.
The Assembly Transportation Committee defeated AB 491 by Republican Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle, 5 to 11, but agreed that the bill could be reconsidered. Current law allows only the state Department of Transportation to grant franchises to build and operate toll roads.
A demonstration project was authorized last year in Orange County that allows joint-powers agencies to operate toll roads.
Frizzelle’s bill would have allowed toll roads to be built by either the private sector or a county. Revenue would have been used for expansion and maintenance of the toll roads, and not for other road projects.
Frizzelle argued that such a measure is needed to reduce congestion, with road money limited.
The California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers and other foes questioned whether the measure should be approved before the Orange County demonstration project begins.
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