Strong public support for completing 241 TR in S California

There's strong public support for completing the 241 Toll Road (Foothill South) in Orange County California despite an unscrupulous and noisy campaign of opposition, magnified by an antagonistic Los Angeles Times and other local media. In southern Orange County where the tollroad will be built a survey of 757 voters shows 58% support completion while 31% oppose with 10% undecided.

"Orange County and San Diego residents who live closest to the project area are clearly united in their support for traffic relief alternatives including the completion of the 241 Toll Road," said Jerry Amante, chairman of the Foothill/Eastern public toll agency building the road.

"It is also compelling that when voters are given truthful information to counter false claims and bogus assertions by project opponents, support for completion of the 241 grows dramatically to nearly three to one in favor," he adds in a statement today.

Around two-thirds of the respondents in southern Orange County said they would increase their support for the project if they knew:

- the road will serve as an alternate route to I-5 for emergency vehicles and disaster evacuations

- San Onofre State Park will not lose any of its trails or campgrounds

- the trail, surfing and surf itself at Trestles beach will not be altered

- endangered species and wildlife habitats will remain protected

The Toll Roads of Orange County, the local toll authority say in a press release that "many of the well-funded activist groups who oppose this project have conducted a widespread disinformation campaign."

The anti-tollroad groups have had some success in sowing misinformation.

When asked if the 241 extension would extend all the way to the beach in San Onofre State Park – a completely fabricated claim – more than half of the South Orange County residents believed that it would.

When informed of the truth – that the road would connect to the I-5 a half-mile from the beach – 72% said that information would make them more likely to support the project.

The poll of Orange County people and another of people in northern San Diego county were conducted by Strata Research. The San Diego County poll showed 39% support for the tollroad, 15% opposed and 46% undecided.

The project has received support from all cities affected, Orange County and all state and federal agencies and Gov Schwarzenegger. Only the California Coastal Commission dominated by radical environmentalists has voted to block the project - a decision being appealed to the US Government which has the power to over-rule the state body.

The US Government is considered very likely to give the project the go-ahead, given that the project has passed the NEPA process requirements, and the Coastal Commission's decision was based on issues quite beyond its jurisdiction such as encouraging transit use. The new toll road alignment is not even on the coastal side of I-5.

The Toll Roads authority say about the project: "Extending the 241 will relieve traffic on Interstate 5 in South Orange County by providing an alternative route. With construction of the toll road, two miles of Interstate 5 will be retrofitted to collect and treat runoff, improving water quality in the Trestles area. Without the toll road, travel from the San Diego/Orange County border to Mission Viejo will take one hour in 2025. With the toll road constructed, the same drive on Interstate 5 will take 25 minutes and it will take 16 minutes on the toll road. The new road will provide an alternative to Interstate 5 for the hundreds of thousands of motorists a day who travel between San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles Counties."

The Foothill South or 241 Extension is planned as a 16 miles (26km) expressway of 2+2 lanes (expandable to 3+3 lanes) from the current stub end of the Foothill Toll Road (CA241) at Oso Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita to connect with I-5 near San Clemente.

Tolling will be all-electronic from overhead gantries, no stop-to-pay cash booths.

Here is the report of the opinion poll:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/Poll.pdf

Also see

http://www.thetollroads.com

http://www.relievetraffic.org/index.htm

http://www.ftcsouth.com/home/index.asp

TOLLROADSnews 2008-09-19