Orange county

Completion of the blocked 241 tollroad of Orange County California looks just a little closer following an okay from the City of San Juan Capistrano in the path of the planned final leg to I-5.

With the San Joaquin Hills (CA73) under financial pressure, bondholders have agreed to terms that  stretch out the bonds life by six years from  2036 to 2042, reduce required debt coverage, and lower annual debt service payments for the next 12 years. The SHJ73 tollroad that parallels I-405 and I-5 in Orange County south of Los Angeles has never had the traffic or revenue projected for it when financed in the early 1990s.

Mudslides Wednesday morning (12/22) on the 241 Toll Road have required the closure of the pike in both directions between the 133TR and the Santiago Canyon Road - close to 261TR (see map below.) This is a central section of the inland tollroad formally named the Foothill/Eastern Toll Road, and located in Orange County southeast of Los Angeles (LA).

Transportation Corridors Agencies who run The Toll Roads in Orange County California celebrated the opening of a third lane each direction at the 241 or Foothill/Eastern Toll Road this week. For about 6km (4 miles) each direction third lanes have been added in the median of the far northern end of the 241 right up to the connector ramps of the interchange with the CA91 freeway.

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.

With the prospect looming of a federal coastal permit for the Foothill South tollroad in southern Orange County California a native American group has cut a deal with The Toll Roads. David Bedares head of one Juaneno tribe with burial grounds and other tribal interest in parts of the tollroad corridor has signed a settlement agreement under which The Toll Roads will provide $350k compensation in return for acceptance of the tollroad.

Eight congressmen representing communities most affected by the Foothill South Toll Road have written to the US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez urging that he over-ride a veto being attempted by the state's Coastal Commission.

The Federal Highway Administration is urging the US Secretary of Commerce to override a state coastal commission's bar to the Foothill South Toll Road (FSTR) in southern Orange County California.

The Orange County Toll Roads are getting a prominent railman, Thomas Margro as chief executive. He has been appointed to succeed Bill Woollett who is retiring. Margro, 62, has been in charge of the BART passenger rail service in the San Francisco area since 1996. Before that he was head of development and #2 at BART. Margro had been #2 at SEPTA the Philadelephia area transit outfit.