Environment

Zombie Road: Controversial San Onofre Toll Stretch Revised

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published October 13, 2011 at 11:55 AM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

This map shows the route of the proposed 16 mile toll road that would cut through San Onofre State Beach Park.

TCA Board Votes To Study Adding Small Segment

The Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) Board voted to move forward with a plan to build a segment of its proposed 16-mile toll road in South Orange County.

The agency will pay for an environmental and financial analysis of the plan to add a 4-mile stretch of the toll road.

The 16-mile toll road was rejected by the California Coastal Commission and the U.S. Commerce Department three years ago. One part of the road would have cut through San Onofre State Beach Park.

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Damon Nagami is an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and a member of the Save San Onofre Coalition.

"For TCA to come back and try to build this road in pieces, it's illegal, it's a bad idea and it's a waste of time and money," said Nagami. "This agency needs to focus on real transportation solutions and not try to bring back a project that's dead in the water."

Elizabeth Goldstein is president of the California State Parks Foundation.

"This is a road to nowhere," said Goldstein, speaking on behalf of the Save San Onofre Coalition. "Building this 4-mile segment is an irresponsible and fiscally unsound attempt by the TCA to pressure federal and state officials to ultimately approve a route that would destroy San Onofre State Beach and that has already been forcefully rejected. Even the Bush administration, under pressure from all the lobbyists money can buy, refused to endorse the toll road through San Onofre.

But Lisa Telles with the TCA said that since the California Coastal Commission decision, the agency has held more than 250 meetings with groups for and against the toll road.

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"Most say there's still a problem that needs to be solved," Telles said last week. "There's only one route to get through South Orange County, which is a big bottleneck between Los Angeles and San Diego."

Telles also said the entire toll-road system in Orange County (51 miles in total) has all been built in sections.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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