Allegations of Toll Road Mismanagement Prompt Calls For Change

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — As planners at the Transportation Corridor Agency continue to tout an extension of Highway 241 to ease traffic, they're encountering a roadblock. California Assembly Bill 1273 hopes to stop the TCA from any significant development after 2020. It also seeks to turn over toll road funds to the state once the bonds are paid.

Further up the chain, Congressmen Harley Rouda and Mike Levin say they have heard the people they represent and want answers regarding the Transportation Corridor Agency's planned routes throughout south Orange County. According to South County residents opposed to the expansion, the proposal will provide little relief in traffic, and in some cases are too close to area schools and homes.

TCA officials "strongly oppose AB 1273."

With $3 billion worth of projects in the pipe, TCA officials believe the bill would hamper their ability to solve traffic issues for Orange County's 325,000 drivers.

"This unique funding model to finance current and future roadway projects has proven successful over the last 20 years," their release stated. "California must protect all available funding options to address the state’s extensive transportation needs."

TCA seeks to continue its "core mission" of enhancing mobility in Orange County and developing traffic relief solutions, agency officials said.

According to Rouda and Levin, in a letter to California Transportation Director Laurie Berman, that core mission is outdated from its 1986 beginnings.

Though TCA says they have over "325,000 daily drivers and 1.5 million account holders" driving The Toll Roads daily, Rouda and Levin stated that they feel the TCA is acting "out of scope" of their original purpose.

The congressmen have asked the California Department of Transportation to halt the TCA's planned routes and give a more thorough review of the newly proposed toll roads through Orange County.

"Residents don't want and didn't ask for (the toll roads)," Rouda wrote on Facebook. "They sure didn't ask for taxpayer money to be lavished on outside consultants."

According to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times, TCA has spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars on outside consulting contracts, including one consultant who billed $185 per hour to "read the news," Rouda said in his letter.

"We believe this, combined with the TCA's inaccurate road projections, show that TCA is incapable of effectively managing toll roads," the congressmen wrote.

Oversight will be crucial, as will the attention of Berman and the California Department of Transportation. "TCA's mismanagement deserves a public review," Rouda said.

Residents lauded the congressmen's letter, with Ocean View School Board Member Gina Clayton adding, "I have opposed these new toll roads since their inception, they just aren't right for Orange County."

TCA Chairs, Shea and Minagar Letters to Assembly Member Chair, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry - April 16, 2019 by Ashley Ludwig on Scribd

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