Quality of County’s Tollways Will Depend on Management

Orange County’s quasi-public toll roads have been discussed and fought over for years, and now, suddenly, the reality of having a substantial section of them come on line is at hand. This is a good time to affirm two important principles that always have attended the arrival of these controversial roads.

First, the board that oversees the expenditures of the Transportation Corridor Agencies needs to be cheered on in any effort it makes to look out for the taxpayer. Second, when the traffic actually begins to flow, efforts must be made to ensure that roads designed to ease congestion do not actually contribute to it. In recent weeks, the importance of both points has been evident.

Last month, the agencies debated whether to fire Lockheed Martin, a subsidiary of the aerospace firm that is serving as toll collection contractor. Automated tolls are considered central to the success of the tollways, and the firm and officials had clashed over Lockheed’s demand for about $75 million more in fees. The dispute arose from concern that a section of the Foothill Transportation Corridor from Mission Viejo to the San Diego County border might never be built. The company said it based its bid on all planned segments being completed.

Some board members raised a good question about the need for this additional expenditure. A subcommittee eventually recommended that Lockheed Martin’s contract be renewed for two more years, despite the controversy. But there reportedly are continuing discussions, and the money matter is in arbitration.

However, it was significant enough that the board seemed to be minding the store. A giant public infrastructure project is potentially a grab bag. To ask the trustees to readily make up a deficiency in hoped-for profits well could chart a bad precedent.

Moreover, the agency’s prior arrogance in the face of revelations about excessive bonuses, perks and salaries left only one option for an attentive board in the future. That was to scrutinize everything. This is the same agency that gave an executive a Jeep worth more than $31,000 for a company car and which has lavished high pay on top management.

On the traffic question, the recent opening of a section of the most controversial road, the San Joaquin Hills corridor, promises to cut to about seven minutes the transit between Laguna Niguel and Laguna Canyon Road. However, Laguna Canyon Road always has been as potentially troublesome as it is scenic, even without the corridor. It is mobbed in summer and too often drowned in winter during the rainy season.

Until the entire corridor opens, officials must do what they can to siphon traffic elsewhere by encouraging motorists to use other offramps. Early reports from the agency on the first week of operation were encouraging, and the entire 15-mile stretch from Laguna Niguel to Newport Beach is expected to open in December.

It always has been difficult to remain neutral about the tollways. They represent in many ways conflicting visions of the future of the county. Many have questioned whether the risk of overdevelopment and environmental damage was worth the effort to improve commuting in one of the state’s worst traffic regions.

What happened in fact was that this major public policy debate over the toll roads came long after the decision was made to go ahead. Before all the new residents arrived, concerned about quality of life, the toll roads already were written into Orange County’s future.

The big question now has become managing the reality of their presence. The way to do that is through fiscal oversight, sensitive handling of environmental issues and sound traffic management.