Couldn't help but take a gander at the latest Honk! column in the Register, which is a must-read for anyone who can get past the fact that writer Jim Radcliffe looks far too happy to be a local transportation columnist. Unless, of course, it's driven him barking mad, in which case the grin makes sense. The column's title promises a Biblical smackdown, with Radcliffe as Moses (only more smiley):
With that headline in mind, I direct your attention to this week's fact:
Fact of the week: The Register has reported that the planned 16-mile extension of the Foothill (241) Toll Road will cost an estimated $875 million (in 2008 dollars) to construct. Which, thankfully, is accurate.But when all costs are included – like for environmental research and a $120 million deal to get a sister toll road not to sue – the projected bill is $1.1 billion. Not included are to-be-determined financing costs.
Unguhubuwha? (for reference, that's pronounced UN-guh-HUH-buh-WHA and means "what the fuck?") The TCA felt that widening I-5 was such an expensive option that it didn't even warrant sophisticated analysis in their environmental impact report - despite claims that their estimated $2 Billion cost for a widening are over-inflated. But even though their road extension is YEARS from seeing so much as a ground-breaking, the project is already slated to cost one-and-a-half billion dollars.
Where do I get the extra cash?
Check out the Register's March 24 article re: the toll road's legal troubles. Clare then-Climaco (now Venegas), TCA spokesperson-turned-Lincoln-Club-head had this to say:
Because of skyrocketing construction costs, toll-road officials say each month the project is delayed adds about $3 million to the price, although construction is not scheduled to begin until 2008
I asked Clare to clarify exactly how long this delay has gone on, and she told me that technically construction was planned to begin in 1997. So let's be generous and call it eleven years of delay- that's 132 months. At $3 Million a month, that brings us to a mind-numbing $396 million bucks.
That raises Radcliffe's estimate of $1.1 Billion to $1,496,000,000. And let's not even consider the fact that the $875 Million figure has been around for years now - but with today's gas prices, how can that possibly be? Won't every single construction vehicle be more expensive to get to and from the site? Won't every single piece of construction material be more expensive to deliver to the site? How can the Transportation Corridor Agencies POSSIBLY expect us to still believe that the construction cost for the Foothill-South will be a mere $875 Million?
I'm more than willing to take your opinions on this one - especially if you're TCA spokesperson Lisa Telles.
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Marky says:
Indeed. He looks like he just came from a Jimmy Buffet concert
Posted on Wednesday, Aug. 30 2006 @ 7:08AM
the serrach says:
he actually looks like he just attended a jimmy buffett concert ...with your (yes, you dear reader) wife.
Posted on Wednesday, Aug. 30 2006 @ 8:08AM
Debby Bodkin says:
Where do I get the extra cash?
Ask the attorneys that are hired by the TCA to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from citizens, based on court judgments that do not have to be proven in a court of law because of vehicle codes that allow judgments without personal service of "ALLEGED" toll road fees and penalties, OR
Where do I get the extra cash?
Ask the public bond attorneys assisting in funding efforts for the TCA.
Where do I get the extra cash?
Ask the attorneys hired to complete the EIR, evidently they too may be assisting in funding efforts for the TCA.
Where do I get the extra cash?
Ask the attorneys and the developers who have lots to gain in supporting the TCA -- forget about any conflicts of interest -- they do not apply and they too may be assisting in the funding efforts for the TCA.
Where do I get the extra cash?
Ask the Orange County Board of Supervisors since a majority of the elected Supes sit on the advisory board for the TCA -- and as for potential conflicts of interest -- no problem -- no checks and balances in place.
In other words citizens, we are all at the mercy of the TCA because what they say you owe.... you owe. What they need in funding they will get in whatever way they see fit.
The TCA attorneys, advisors, developers and elected government officials that are held to so called professional ethics and guidelines, are all in this together -- no checks and balances -- no concern for potential conflicts of interest....
The TCA is no longer a non-partisan entity -- it is all about the rich, famous and politically-connected -- and bonds, and attorneys and Republicans.....
Posted on Wednesday, Aug. 30 2006 @ 7:08PM
Gridlocked Bureacracy says:
Wait, Alex is complaining that the process is taking too long? I agree, this project should have been built years ago. But for the whining and crying of the "Save the Dung Beetle" brigade it would have been.
The fly in your ointment is that the cost to widen the I-5 isn't $2.4 billion anymore either... that will have gone up too... D'oh!
Posted on Friday, Sep. 8 2006 @ 7:09PM
Alex Brant-Zawadzki says:
It was NEVER $2.4 billion to widen the 5, unless you use the TCA's fallacious figures that appear to demand the destruction of over 800 homes and businesses.
Toll road opponents contend that you can actually widen the 5 with NO regulatory takings WHATSOEVER. Which would make the I-5 widening way cheaper than the 241 extension. And the TCA admits that widening the 5 would be more effective at relieving traffic, except that they like to say it's more expensive.
My ointment has no flies. D'oh yourself
Posted on Saturday, Sep. 9 2006 @ 2:09AM
Orange County Weekly - The Blotter » That Good-For-Nothing Toll Road says:
[...] While traffic on both the 5 freeway and nearby arterials crawls to a halt, the rich and careless will be able to cruise down a traffic-free toll road while the rest of the county thinks back to a time when cars actually moved on the road. As far as work delays are concerned, well, let's just say construction was initially scheduled to begin in 1997; now they're hoping for 2008. So we're already looking at a decade plus one. [...]
Posted on Wednesday, Nov. 22 2006 @ 8:11PM