More bad news for Foothill South

The proposed Foothill South toll road in Orange County keeps being hit from all sides. It got a bad review from the Coastal Commission staff last week. Now the LAT editorial board gives a thumbs down to the road (which runs north-south east of the 5 roughly from the Mission Viejo area to the San Diego County line):

Toll road officials in Orange County chose a particularly troubling route for a new six-lane expressway. The proposed Foothill South Toll Road, which would bisect a private wilderness preserve and traverse the narrow length of an undeveloped coastal canyon, should not be built. The toll road faces a probably hostile hearing before the Coastal Commission next week, after the commission's staff produced a scathing report. The Transportation Corridor Agencies could scarcely have mapped a more environmentally damaging route, the report says, threatening harm to several important endangered species and one of the few healthy coastal creeks in the region. It would cut along the entire length of the pristine canyon that makes up most of San Onofre State Beach, passing within a few hundred feet of its campground. The park is visited by 2.7 million people a year.

"The project is fundamentally inconsistent with the spirit and letter of . . . the Coastal Act," the report says.

Comments

[JP]

The problem with the 241 is that it essentially goes nowhere other than the land of the Real Housewives. No one in their right mind is going to use it as an alternative or a connecting route to the 5 or 405 (especially since it would require doublebacking via the 133).

Extending the 241 is not the answer and is at best a band-aid that will fall off in the shower.

The real issues have to do with (a) long-distance commuters from San Diego and the IE commuting to jobs in OC, (b) overgrowth, especially now that Rancho Mission Viejo has been approved in addition to the latest sprawl known as Talega, and (c) no viable public transit alternatives. OCTA is a laughable suggestion.

The 73 is a shining example of the TCA's dedication to "reducing" congestion. Let's not make the same mistake again.

"Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me twice...eh eh eh can't get fooled again."