Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) are two
joint powers authorities formed by the
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...
in 1986 to plan, finance, construct, and operate
Orange County's
toll road
A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...
s. TCA consists of two local government agencies:
* The San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency which oversees the
San Joaquin Hills Toll Road (State Route 73).
* The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency which runs both the
Foothill Toll Road (State Route 241) and the
Eastern Toll Road (
State Route 241 and
State Route 261).
The toll roads maintained by TCA are financed with tax-exempt bonds on a stand-alone basis—taxpayers are not responsible for repaying any debt if toll revenues fall short.
Some California lawmakers and toll road advocates favor using similar local agencies to build and maintain tollways, especially after the controversy of authorizing a private company to initially run the
91 Express Lanes. Others oppose them, arguing that new toll roads will just facilitate and perpetuate sprawl.
The Transportation Corridor Agency funded studies which argued that the
California gnatcatcher was not a distinct species, in order to argue for delisting of the species under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting and conserving imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of e ...
and enable extension of the State Route 241.
History
The toll roads managed by Transportation Agencies were originally supposed to be free roads by 2033. However, TCA refinanced the debt in 2014, thus extending the agency's authority of the toll roads until 2053.
In 2018, Transportation Corridor Agencies signed a cooperative agreement with the
San Bernardino County Transportation Authority
The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) is the successor to San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG). They are responsible for administering the Measure I half-cent tax which voters in San Bernardino County, California, ...
to be the processing partner for the San Bernardino County high-occupancy toll lanes.
By 2020, Transportation Corridor Agencies had a budget of 400 million per year.
By March 2020, Transportation Corridor Agencies officially abandoned plans to extend State Route 241 through San Clemente.
In 2021, the city of San Clemente voted to leave the Transportation Corridor Agencies because the city lost faith that the agency would be able to pay off their debt in a timely manner.
Roadways
Toll facilities owned and operated by the
Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) fall outside TCA's jurisdiction, including the
91 Express Lanes between
SR 55 in Anaheim to the
Riverside County line, and the
405 Express Lanes between SR 73 in
Costa Mesa
Costa may refer to:
Biology
* Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy
* Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus
* Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral
* Costa (entomology), the leading edge o ...
and the
I-605
Interstate 605 (abbreviated I-605, officially known as the San Gabriel River Freeway and locally referred to as The 605) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Greater Los Angeles urban area of Southern California. I ...
/
SR 22 interchange in
Seal Beach.
Criticism
In 2020, Transportation Corridor Agencies were criticized for trying to convert a non-tolled road into a toll road. Transportation Corridor Agencies also objected to state legislation that forbid them from expanding the toll system in Orange County after TCA was caught using toll money to pay lobbyists.
In 2020, the Orange County Grand Jury released a report that stated that the Transportation Corridor Agencies has completely fulfilled its original mandate, while criticizing them for trying to involve itself in future toll planning by claiming that, "much of the planning is being performed by consultants and TCA staff, who have a financial interest in seeing the TCA continue beyond its original mandate, and out of view of many of the TCA board members and the public thus creating a conflict of interest issue”.
In 2021, the Transportation Corridor Agencies were criticized by the Orange County Grand Jury for collecting over $28 billion on a highway system that cost $2.8 billion to build. The Grand Jury's main argument is that TCA has no excuse to wait to pay off the debt in 2053.
In 2022, the TCA CEO resigned due to a misconduct investigation.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Transportation Corridor Agencies
Transportation in Orange County, California
Toll road authorities of the United States
Transit agencies in California
Roads in Orange County, California
Southern California freeways