SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA:Polling Shows Mixed Attitudes to Toll Roads

An opinion poll in communities near Southern California’s four toll roads shows reasonable support for them but formidable opposition also – 59% saying they have a favorable opinion of them, 28% unfavorable. An amazing proportion of people don’t use them much. 19% say they never use them - this is people who live near them – and 34% seldom use them. Only 19% use them often, and 28% occasionally.

Only 8% of those who view them unfavorably do so because they believe in free roads. Most just think they are too expensive. Tolls on these roads ARE expensive by the standards of established toll roads in the east and the south – over 10c/mi. Because they are expensive to build.

Only 16% say the toll roads are doing “a great deal” to relieve congestion. Most, or 43%, say they are doing “some” to reduce congestion. 35% say they are doing nothing or only a little. People are generally very pessimistic about congestion. 83% think congestion generally will get worse in the future vs 12% who think it will stay about the same, and only 4% who think it will get better.

There is rather clear support – 61% vs 27% – for the view that completion of the TCA system with the Foothill South will reduce congestion. By 75% to 18% there is support for building the Foothill South and completing the system with the link to I-5. By 50% to 42% there is opposition to gas taxes going to toll roads.

Value pricing, defined as toll rates that are higher in the rush hours than off-peak, gets minority support – 24% compared to 67% who think it won’t work.

In an open-ended format, asked what they first think about the toll roads, 25% say that they are too expensive and another 25% say they are quick and cut driving time. There is approx 6% opposition to the toll roads as roads – for their impact on “the environment” and “open space.”

These are well-off people, 74% being in households with income over $50k, 64% own cell phones, and are Republican by 55% to 30% Democrat. The survey conducted by Baldassare Assoc was of 600 voters in suburbs adjacent to the toll roads. It was conducted for the TCA, the local toll agency. (www.tcagencies.com)