RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA : Antonio and Oso Extensions to Open

It’s taken several years, cost one life and $38 million to complete, but on June 8, the waiting will be over.

The long-anticipated extensions of Oso and Antonio parkways are scheduled to open at 11:30 a.m. on the Oso Parkway bridge amid much pomp and ceremony, including a parade and a blessing from a Catholic priest.

But once all the fanfare has died down, Rancho Santa Margarita residents will be left with another important arterial leading out of this community of about 15,000.

With the opening of the Alicia Parkway extension earlier this year, commuters living in the fast-growing area now have a third route to Interstate 5. Until Alicia Parkway fully opened, all motorists were forced down one street--Santa Margarita Parkway--to El Toro Road, where they traveled several miles down one of the most congested roadways in the county to reach the freeway.

“This opening should substantially relieve traffic snarl-ups on Santa Margarita Parkway,” said Jack Wynns, a board member of the Rancho Santa Margarita Civic Assn. “It should improve the quality of life around here.”

While Alicia Parkway affords freeway access to residents heading north, the new extensions will make it easier to drive south.

At times, it seemed to South County residents that the project would never see completion. Held up slightly by red tape at its beginning, the road extensions ran into a major obstacle when construction began.

Workers encountered naturally occurring damp, loose soil that made it difficult for heavy machinery to carve a roadway out of the ground. Projected completion dates were set back a year and, when construction continued to go slowly, they were pushed back again.

Tragedy also struck the project last year when the walls of a trench collapsed, killing a worker in the pit.

“It’s like magic that this is finally done,” said Mission Viejo Mayor Sharon Cody. “Every day, I drove by (the construction area) and said, ‘This can’t be done.’ I guess this shows when everybody’s real motivated, we can move mountains.”

The road extensions are part of a $250-million program known as the Foothill Circulation Phasing Plan, a cooperative venture between the county and area landowners to create and improve traffic circulation.