The Devastating Effects of Tollways

It’s not driving the toll roads that’s scary. It’s not the process of paying the tolls that’s scary. What’s really scary is how these toll roads are shoved down our throats at every turn.

Want to know what else scares me? It’s thinking about the devastation of what little open space we have left in south Orange County. The fact that future generations will never have a chance to see it as it was created is why I won’t drive the toll roads.

If one wants to imagine how a toll road might look as it cuts through the back country and merges into the San Diego Freeway, one need only look as far as the devastation caused by the interchange of the freeway and Vista Hermosa, currently under construction in San Clemente. Multiply how that looks by about a thousand.

Jeff Shimkus

San Clemente

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So, in his July 29 letter to the editor, Dan Silver of the Endangered Habitats League complains that the public was not consulted about the growth plan for Rancho Mission Viejo.

Isn’t this amazing? After all, in the early and mid-1990s, the league participated in secret meetings with “a representative” paid for by the Irvine Co. that brought us citizens the pro-development Natural Communities Conservation Plan and greased the way for the toll roads to lay open Orange County’s outback to development.

Where was the concern for the public input and scrutiny during the closed-door meetings then?

Barbara Kennedy

Laguna Beach