Speeding Our Way to Nowhere on the 241

OK, so you don't believe it when I say that the 241 Toll Road Extension to Trestles is a disaster waiting to happen... That will never actually happen? Well, go ahead and read Alex Brant-Zawadzki's fine article in this week's OC Weekly about the whole matter:

The only good toll road is a dead toll road, and the Foothill-South toll road is as good as dead. The Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) announced on Feb. 28 that the project will be put off at least two and a half years, until 2011, “since the permitting process is very complicated and will take longer than expected.”

Longer than expected? How can that be?

Since 1996, the TCA has been working with the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Caltrans to make the toll road a reality. No wonder, in early 2006, TCA board member Jim Dahl called the project “the most studied road . . . in the state of California, and probably in the nation.”

And now, 11 years in, we’re supposed to believe they’re still fumbling with the paperwork?

Now go forth, and read the rest of Alex's great article! He's one of the good writers who's still at OC Weekly, and hopefully he'll continue to report from the front lines as the Foothill-South 241 Extension dies a slow, painful death. And oh yes, for more background on this strange and bizarre saga, see Alex's "Blotter" stories on the toll road here, or my "Speeding Our Way to Trestles" series here.

(Cross-posted at Calitics)