Foothill Toll Road

currently runs twenty six miles from the ninety one freeway in anaheim to rancho santa margarita orange county officials have wanted to extend it for the past decade the agency made up of local elected officials has lead that effort or agencies or t c a it's considering a number of possible paths for the road all of the toll road route would run parallel to the i five before connecting to it in or near san clemente environmentalists say each of the route would harm the environment and the main concern of the torah it is there's so many listed he sees here lifted and senses he sees christine penrod is executive director of the south coast wild lands project natal roadway basically fran right to strike a lot of these rebel areas for a number of different species and rod stands at the southern end of the foothill toll road she says extending its south from here would cut through some of the last remaining habitat for as many as ten endangered or threatened species animals like the california gnatcatcher a small raise and the pacific

puppet mouse penrod worries that the road would also when carol other animals that are currently in danger they really lead in that creating little islands along along the conservancy's another land that are protected it would actually we've ever weave in and around those areas so i'm sorry isolating them from these larger habitat areas and the cleveland in camp pendleton in opposite a beautiful habitat penrod says it so many animals in small reserves like the rancho mission diego conservancy here read with others in wilderness areas like the cleveland national forest they could eventually die out officials with the transportation court or agency say they recognize that the road would pose a number of environmental challenges lisa ted is a spokeswoman for the agency says the t z a will have to juggle of variety of environmental and other concern there's a whole laundry list of very edgy and biological impact if one went one area geological unpack you

in our fifth economic impact all fourteen impact to look at when i'm caddying the project info to balance their vehicle for handling you know what i'm sure she'll be needed or how we manage that the growth in traffic or the county and chewed an alternative that actually impact overall if you're looking to get taylor says the dc eight has a good environmental track record she says the agency has created restored or preserved more than two thousand acres of sensitive habitat any area coastal phage we be able to recreate koval fish which is the home of the calvary gnatcatcher where birds are nesting and pledging young we've built wet when it retreated link between opera newport bait and walking held for a while like movement environmentalist say these conservation efforts were mandated by the state and federal government and the idea that you see a as a friend to the environment makes them cringe i've seen the way that the road so

supposedly environmentally your bolt michael hazard is director of the southern california watershed alliance is going directly into the creeks images wash their hands are so it's not us caltrans hasn't stands on a hillside on the edges then clemente looking down into a valley between the city and the camp pendleton marine base chris janney toes and sam the tail creeks weave through the valley and converge there a couple of years ago steelhead trout which were thought to be extinct in orange county were discovered in san mateo creek one of southern california's last free flowing streams hazards as a road here would pollute the creek and harm the fish torres gonna run through the watershed right down the center of the watershed during the rains will have the heaviest runoff coming off of the toll road during the reins is when the joy that serve making their way back up so they were absolutely can have at the worst possible

time officials with the t ca say they would use the best available technology to filter as much of the runoff as possible that michel hazard says t c a and caltrans the state agency charged with maintaining the roads have a terrible track record to illustrate the point he takes us to a stretch of the existing laws in the us we're now in a series about in july as they ordered held ransom to better maintain or replace thirty million dollars worth of filters along another of dc's roads the seventy three toll road t cia's lisa taylor says the two agencies are working to improve their handling of runoff problems the fifth and that

we couldn't wait on that horowitz are above and beyond what your fine dining room in california and a fellow i think that it's very that we keep working on working with couch and thought that we had a whole laundry list of other areas that we've had loads of success are in the planning the two ca along with a number of state and federal agencies is currently conducting an environmental review for the proposed toll road extension this study to be released next year will also look into alternatives to the toll road like upgrading existing roads or whitening the i five for kpcc news i'm elsa set sail in san clemente