-  The Toll Road Goes over VOTER APPROVED OPEN SPACE! 

- San Clemente, South County  and TCA decided long time ago that a toll road through South OC would have devastating effects - our General Plans specifies open space. This toll road will ensure economic hardship, neighborhood and community cohesion by bisecting our cities, negative response times for first responders, air quality, noise, traffic, visual impacts and environmental impacts.

- We believe that the mobility study in November was flawed, where the questions forced you to give an answer to one of the routes. The ascertainment study was done with 45 individuals who have never been disclosed.  The population of the affected area is 300,000 people - a laughable sampling group. 

- Transportation is changing at a fast pace. Don't build 1970s technology when we are the cusp of major technological advances such as autonomous cars and hyperloops.

- This is a vanity road - only wealthy people can afford this Toll Road. Toll Roads discriminate against the elderly, students and low income families.

-   Our homes values, views, health and quality of life will be deeply affected. The 92673 zip code has a whooping 23% drop in year over year sales!!

-  Their own mobility studies indicate that ARTERIALS  are better solutions. The city of San Clemente has commissioned a $90,000 study to determine the best arterials for the region.

-  We have already widened the I5 Freeway. San Clemente and South OC will be subjected again to years of construction and widening of the freeway to make the connection to the 5. Toll Lanes would be added from Pico to Basilone Road 

- One of the alignments would go very near 6 schools - San Juan Hills High, Vista Del Mar, Marblehead, Bernice Ayres and Truman Benedict and San Clemente High. Esencia and Tesoro.  In 2003, California passed a law that freeways can't be constructed 500 feet from schools. Living near a freeway has detrimental effects on learning, lung capacity and higher risks of cancer.

-  We value our open space and we bought our homes as such. If we wanted to live in Irvine, we would do that but we chose South OC. San Clemente and San Juan are historical towns and  fully developed. The TCA has never gone through a fully developed cities                                                 

- Cost per mile to build this Toll Road could be at par with the bullet train (Pacific Research Group from 2014)           

- We have among the highest tolls in the nation.  To compensate with sagging ridership, the Toll Road has risen their Tolls 12 times since inception. This is just another Tax on citizens - (Pacific Research Group)       

- According to Pacific Research Group, The Toll Roads have received over $1.7 Billion dollars of taxpayer money through grants, developer fees. Once the Toll Roads are completed, Caltrans is responsible for maintaining roads at Taxpayer expenses.  Fix the current roads.   

 - If this was truly about mobility, lower pricing should be offered at the other Tolls (241 and 73) to take more cars off the road. Use price management according to times of the day.

-  San Clemente does not meet Air Quality Standards (AQMD) NOW, a TollWay will add more to this problem according to the Coastal Commission report from 2008. 

- The open space that the Toll Road wants to go over is already been used as mitigation land.  One can't mitigate the mitigation land.

-  None of the studies included minority groups and disenfranchised groups that will not be able to afford to ride on this VANITY Toll Road.

- According to their TCA own studies - this Toll Road will have minimal impact on traffic reduction -2% to 8%.

- The routes through South OC can potentially lower property values of thousands of homes with an impact of millions of dollars to the city, county and state.  

- Free arterials are the key. Making Los Patrones a Toll Road would increase traffic on Antonio by an additional 22,000 cars.

- To this day, the Toll Roads have NEVER met ridership projections! Their initial revenue projections were off by a whooping 420%

- Miles driven have steadily decreased in North America, even as population grows.  The peak driving in North America happened in 2007.

-  Traffic on the I5 San Clemente/San Diego border have actually decreased in the last 10 years!! and not EVER met the projections that the TCA presented of 220,000 cars!! The actual number 130,000 cars.

- Traffic in OC has increased by a mere 2 minutes

- We reject all the ROUTES through South OC that go by established communities or by the Park.  San Onofre State Park is visited by 2.5 million people a year and is one of the most utilized and state parks in California. Trestles should be protected. 

- Population in OC is aging!! Chapman  University notes that a quickly aging Orange County population won’t grow by much in the coming years. A key reason? Foreign immigration, a major population boost, will slow as local departures rise. By 2020, Orange County will add a net 92,000 residents — all older than 65

- Rancho Mission Viejo, where the majority of the development is happening, has emphatically said that they reject the Toll Road plan and they can deal with their traffic with their own arterials

"San Clemente was founded and built by Ole Hanson, my grandfather, with a very beautiful idea in mind: An authentic Spanish Revisionist Architecture town by the sea that blended into the gorgeous landscape and ocean shore. Quality of life was one of the main ideas, with the nice Mediterranean climate complimented by the Sunshine. Here, he considered, was just the place for swimming, walking, exercise and health in harmony with nature. The plan was right out of Ole Hanson's philosophy of life that he shared with his good, late friend, President Theodore Roosevelt. Now, those who have no interest in the City of San Clemente, nor the healthy lifestyle it promotes, nor the beauty of the city and it's history, plan to sully the beauty of this magical place with a hideous toll road. This is something that my grandfather would oppose intensely....And I share his sentiments. This monstrosity must be stopped and not allowed to proceed. Oppose this with every inch of your political fortitude. I stand with you. Phil Halfhill Hanson"