Heavy Traffic Ahead Despite Toll Roads, Drivers Predict

Despite the 51 miles of toll roads in Orange County, motorists are overwhelmingly pessimistic about traffic in the future, according to a survey released Tuesday by toll road officials.

The survey of 600 registered voters who live near the toll roads also found that county residents are divided over the issue of spending public gas tax dollars to help pay for the toll roads: Half said they opposed the use of such funds on roads where motorists have to pay a toll, while 42% said toll roads should receive such public funds.

Toll road officials have said they would like to pursue such funds to help build the proposed 16-mile Foothill South toll road--the final leg in the county’s planned 67-mile system.

“Obviously the Foothill South is going to be a project that will require a substantial amount of funding,” said Mike Stockstill, director of External Affairs for the Transportation Corridor Agencies. “I think there’s a lot of confusion about whether we are a private road or a public road. On both the Foothill . . . and San Joaquin Hills, we had some state or federal funds, and there was a lot of backlash over us using them.”

The toll roads are financed largely through bonds purchased by private investors. When the more than $3 billion in debt on the roads is paid off, mostly through tolls and developer fees, the roads are scheduled to be turned into freeways.

The survey comes as toll road officials gear up for their toughest fight yet: trying to get the controversial final leg of the system built. The Foothill South would connect Oso Parkway with Interstate 5 in San Clemente, cutting through some of the last pristine open space in South County--a proposition fiercely opposed by environmentalists.

The existing roads--the Foothill/Eastern and San Joaquin Hills corridors--got mostly positive reviews from those surveyed.

About eight in 10 said they had driven the roads--although only one quarter of those said they used the roads often.

Nearly 60% said they had a favorable impression of the toll roads, and three-quarters said they believed the entire system should be completed.

The poll, conducted the first week of October by Baldassare Associates, was commissioned to get a better sense of how people perceive the roads, Stockstill said.

“Obviously we’d like to know more about why people don’t use the roads, and we would like to know what would make them change their habits,” he said.

The survey also took the residents’ pulse on feelings about Orange County’s traffic congestion, with the vast majority--83%--saying they believed traffic in the county will get worse in the future.

But fewer than 20% said toll roads would do a great deal to help meet the county’s future traffic needs.

On the subject of the Foothill South, 61% said they believed it would relieve congestion. Those surveyed were evenly divided on the environmental repercussions of the road, with 41% saying that it could not be built without damaging the environment and 39% saying it could be completed with only minimal impact.

There were few surprises when it came to likes and dislikes about the road. Those who have favorable feelings about the tollways cited faster commute times more than any other reason. Those who don’t like the roads said the tolls are too expensive.