Putting a Price on Getting There : Toll Roads Suggested as Alternative to Unbuilt Freeways

Toll roads could help alleviate traffic congestion and expedite construction of needed highways that otherwise might remain unbuilt for years because of a lack of funding, San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding said Friday.

Golding’s suggestion, which she described as “an old . . . and not necessarily popular idea,” came during a forum at University Towne Centre at which she and other elected officials discussed the future of the Golden Triangle--the booming, triangular-shaped North City region bound by Highway 52 and Interstates 5 and 805.

Nearly 100 public officials, developers and community activists attended the two-hour meeting, which covered topics ranging from the Golden Triangle’s public transit and open space needs to its environmental quality and infrastructure demands.

A countywide survey of community leaders unveiled at the forum identified traffic as the top problem, prompting numerous questions on the timetable and financing of new highways. Street and highway development is a critical issue in northern San Diego, where traffic generated by recent growth is outstripping the capacity of existing roads.

Golding criticized a proposed half-cent sales tax to build roads as “a device simply to get around” Proposition 13, the 1978 statewide initiative that cut property tax revenues, leaving local governments scrambling for other methods to finance various programs, including road construction.

One alternative, Golding said, would be to create toll roads--an idea she plans to ask county staff to study this spring.

While toll roads are common in the East, Golding admitted that the concept is viewed with considerably more skepticism in automobile-dependent Southern California, where generations of motorists have taken the literal meaning of the word “freeway” for granted.

“Nobody likes to pay for anything--that’s a given,” Golding said. “But when you consider that certain roads might not be built in the next 50 years unless we find other means of financing them, this is an idea that should be looked at seriously. . . I think a lot of people would rather pay 25 or 50 cents to use a road than sit in traffic jams every day for years.”

Jim Larsen, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, said after the meeting that he was unaware of any toll roads in California “since the pioneer days.”

“It’s a subject that comes up every once in a while when people believe that enough money (for roads) isn’t coming in on a timely basis,” Larsen said. “The idea has never really gotten anywhere. But I think it’s good that they want to take a look at it.”

Golding’s remarks drew opposition from State Sen. William Craven (R-Oceanside). The public simply does not like toll roads, Craven said, noting that a toll bridge in Oceanside “is about as popular as . . . well, I won’t say it.” Increased state funding for highway construction is a better solution, Craven said.

Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier (R-Encinitas) added that “all roads are toll roads” because gasoline taxes and other public revenues help fund their construction.

Golding, however, pointed out that state funds for highways “will probably never be sufficient” and that local governments’ reliance on developers to finance roads have exacerbated problems associated with growth.

“It’s all fine and good to say that taxes should pay for all the roads, but the fact is, that’s not happening now,” Golding said. “Roads don’t get built unless you have development.”

Over the past decade, local governments have required developers of new communities to finance road construction necessitated by the growth. One major shortcoming of that approach, Golding argued, is that it undermines growth-management goals by making road construction largely dependent on residential and commercial growth that, in turn, increases traffic.

Toll roads, Golding explained, could finance construction of roads that are “not necessarily dependent on simultaneous . . . high-density development.” Other potential advantages of toll roads, the supervisor added, are that they could speed construction of roads that remain on the drawing board “with no foreseeable funding sources,” and that the roads would be paid for by the motorists who use them.

That latter argument, however, is turned around by opponents, who contend that road usage tolls, like sales taxes, are a regressive form of taxation.

The possibility of a public backlash is not the only potential obstacle to the use of toll roads, Golding admitted. There are also several key legal questions--including whether the county would need the state or federal government’s permission, or voters’ approval, to build a toll road. Those and other questions will be addressed in the county study, the supervisor added.

A handful of other ideas--the extension of the San Diego Trolley, a so-called “shuttle loop,” and more pedestrian and bicycle paths--also were mentioned at the forum as important ingredients in the Golden Triangle’s overall transportation picture. Plans for street widenings, as well as new freeway exit and entrance ramps, also will have significant impact on the area’s traffic, speakers said.

“I don’t believe there should be any form of people moving that we should leave untouched,” said San Diego City Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer.

In response to a question dealing with another facet of Golden Triangle growth, Wolfsheimer suggested that the increasing number of scientific, medical and high-technology research complexes in the region could help meet the area’s open-space needs.

The city should “stop depending” on an oft-used formula whereby school grounds supply much of a community’s recreational and park facilities, Wolfsheimer said. The open-space surrounding many Golden Triangle research centers, she added, would provide ideal locations for ball fields and parks.