State agencies responsible for the toll roads in Orange County, California.
| Transportation Corridor Agencies |
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| Chief executive | Valarie McFall [1] |
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| Headquarters | Irvine, California |
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| Website | https://thetollroads.com/ |
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| Began operation | 1986; 38 years ago (1986) [2] |
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Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) are two joint powers authorities formed by the California State Legislature in 1986 to plan, finance, construct, and operate Orange County's toll roads. TCA consists of two local government agencies:
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 future tollways, especially after the controversy of authorizing a private company to 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 and enable extension of the State Route 241. [3]
History
The toll roads managed by Transportation Agencies were originally supposed to be free roads by 2033.[4] But TCA refinanced the debt in 2014, thus extending the agency's authority of the toll roads until 2053.[5]
By 2020, Transportation Corridor Agencies had a budget of 400 million per year[6]
By March 2020, Transportation Corridor Agencies officially abandoned plans to extend state route 241 through San Clemente[7]
In 2021, the city of San Clemente voted to leave the Transportation Corridor Agencies because the city lost faith that the agency will be able to pay off their debt in a timely manner[8]
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 lobbyist.[9]
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,”[10]
In 2021, the Transportation Corridor Agencies were criticized by the Orange County Grand Jury for collecting over 28 billion dollars on a highway system that cost 2.8 billion dollars to build. The grand Jury's main argument is that TCA has no excuse to wait to pay off the debt in 2053[11][12]
In 2022, TCA CEO resigned due to a misconduct investigation[13]
SR 73 Toll (San Joaquin Hills Toll Road)
SR 133 Toll (Eastern Toll Road)
SR 241 Toll (Foothill and Eastern Toll Roads)
SR 261 Toll (Eastern Toll Road)