Schwarzenegger Proposes Toll Road Through Cuyamaca State Park

Schwarzenegger Proposes Toll Road Through Cuyamaca State Park

Yesterday Gov. Schwarzenegger unveiled plans that would convert the existing Hwy 79 through Cuyamaca State Park to a 4 lane toll road. He said that he had driven through there once before and the curves made the highway unreasonably slow and he felt nauseated. He had never seen a road like this in either Los Angeles or Sacramento. Now that the State Park has been badly burnt in the Cedar Fire, people want to get through there fast anyway. You have to pay a fee to drive through a National Park, so why not our State Parks too. This project is not expected to have the scrutiny and opposition of the toll road at San Onofre State Park because it not a new road, but simply an improvement of the old one and will be declared part of the Strategic Fire Mass Exodus Corridor (SFMEC)- this name was picked over the suggested alternate, SCRAM (Strategic Corridor Removing Angry Masses). Please have exact change ready in the event of an emergency when the electronics don’t work. He stated that with modern earthmoving equipment, he expects the road to be as straight as I-8 between Alpine and Descanso. It will be a triple win for the state because the toll road contractor has to pay to maintain the road, yet the state gets to keep the money from taxes it would have had to normally use for maintenance plus gets a usage royalty from the contractor. If the state can also extract a park fee for driving through, it would be very lucrative. The state can use the money to buy new firemen plus a vowel. How can you not love this. Schwarzenegger would also like to see a gas station at Paso Picacho in case someone can’t afford to get enough gas in Alpine or Julian for the trip through. When asked why he wouldn’t allow offshore drilling, but would allow the toll roads through Cuyamaca and San Onofre State Parks, he replied, “We must protect our beaches at all costs-there can be no exceptions. We need new toll roads so that we can get to the protected beaches.” He also said he had some other great ideas for the State Parks but they’re still in the planning stages. “First I think it will be the Cuyamaca toll road, because it’s easier to slip it through, then the San Onofre toll road, then the Sunrise Powerlink through Anza Borrego. This is just part of my program to take on the special interests, like the people who use the State Parks, those who use freeways and those who oppose new powerlines.

©2008 Eric Stamets