Orange County has built a reputation of dealing with its transportation ills with a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality. 

To address the State’s neglect of our growth and transportation infrastructure, we created the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), successfully passed Measure M and its renewal, and created the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), allowing us to deal with traffic congestion by building roads without raising taxes.

We have a proven track record of being proactive and responsible in our transportation planning.

Well, I guess the old saying of "no good deed goes unpunished" applies all too perfectly after the February 6 meeting of the California Coastal Commission when it denied TCA’s plan to complete the extension of State Route 241. 

After over 14 hours and numerous presentations and testimony, including my own, the Commission voted down TCA’s Coastal Consistency Certification on an 8-2 vote.

As an elected official who has served at various levels of government, there are two non-negotiable items one must never lose site of: The first is to uphold the Constitution, and the second being the protection of the public. 

Completion of SR 241 accomplishes numerous critical public policy initiatives that provide direct benefit to the residents of Orange County and Southern California as a whole.  However, with Orange County’s population larger than that of 21 states, it is tragic that only one north/south connection exists between Orange and San Diego Counties. 

In the past year alone, Interstate 5 (I-5) has been closed in both directions – once as of result of a major accident that for all purposes created a parking lot for hours on the freeway, and the second was the formal closure of I-5 at the border of Camp Pendleton due to the recent wildfires.

In this day and age, we have the technology and planning capability to mitigate impacts development may have on the environment. 

TCA has a proven history with their work on the San Joaquin Hills (73) Toll Road, and the existing stretch of SR 241.  The completion of SR 241 is essential to maintaining our quality of life as well as being is critical to our public safety.

This roadway would not only offer commuters an alternative to ever increasing traffic congestion, but would provide an all important and much needed escape route during times of emergency. Unfortunately, these issues were not given proper consideration due to emotional and unproven objections by the California Coastal Commission.

Despite the Commission’s February 6 vote, I believe that SR 241 completion is vital to Orange County’s future as it will provide greater coastal access while addressing the transportation challenges facing South County in an environmentally sensitive and fiscally responsible way.