Will roadway take a toll on Trestles? Not for now.

The dust has settled regarding the decision to extend Orange County's Foothill South toll road through San Onofre State Beach, and the California Coastal Commission has come out on top. Or did it?
According to officials from the Transportation Corridor Agencies, the organization that has proposed the 241 project for six years, citing biological research from several government environmental agencies, it is the nearby commuters who will be losing out.
Following the commission's vote of 8-2, disapproving the proposed extension of the 67-mile system that would reduce traffic congestion, the TCA has already filed an appeal with the United States Department of Commerce. The department has 235 days to respond.
But it turns out that in addition to the hordes of surfers who thought that the project would disrupt the surf a half-mile down at the well-known Trestles break spot, there were also those in favor of the plans including members of the Surfrider Foundation itself. Sound weird or complicated?
Well it is. You can read all about it in a story in Surfer Magazine at http://surfermag.com/photos/flash/trestles-toll-road-08/ which includes a slide show presentation of how the pre-existing roads and railways have posed more of a threat to the break than the proposed toll road. In addition the toll way would have had more of an effect on the San Mateo campground than anything.
Also, according the TCA spokesperson Jennifer Seaton, the project would:
• create a managing habitat for the endangered Pacific Pocket mouse
• avoid certain wetland areas.
• create wildlife under crossings.
• treat water that comes from the San Mateo Creek
She said the environment would actually benefit from the toll road creating a net water quality benefit in the area in addition to improving air quality by moving cars more efficiently on the road, according to research done by independent biologists.
However, environmental and land preservation groups beg to differ. And these studies and reports are "very complicated," even according to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who even sent a letter to the commission to postpone the hearing 30 days.
Among the hundreds of attendants who came out to the commission meeting Feb. 7 many said the Environmental Impact Report was done sloppily and hides certain unavoidable concerns regarding the proposed project. They also said the decision puts forth a message to preserve state land and upholds the Coastal Act.
Either way, aside from the spin put out by the TCA, how does a fast trak toll road, with hundreds of vehicles a day zooming down lanes, improve a sensitive natural habitat? That is one public relations hurdle that the agency will have to jump again if the department of commerce ever decides to overturn the commission's decision.