THE TOLL ROADS
SR-241 extension from Oso Parkway to Cow Camp Road
Comm LAB serves as the primary Orange County outreach consultant for the Foothill-Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency in its efforts to educate the public and enhance community involvement about the regional and local traffic relief benefits and potential environmental impacts of extending State Route 241 (SR-241), a publicly tolled regional highway. Public opinion research showed that two-thirds of local residents supported the extension. This traffic relief project evolved over the years.
The project was initially envisioned to have SR-241 connect directly to the Interstate 5 freeway by going around the City of San Clemente to the east and south and run through the northern edge of Camp Pendleton. When this route was denied by the California Coastal Commission, TCA considered a new route that would extend State Route 241 – without tolls – from its terminus at Oso Parkway to Cow Camp Road near Ortega Highway and eventually to Avenida La Pata. While the project would not result in a direct connection to the I-5 freeway as many project supporters had hoped, commuters would finally have a north-south alternative to the often congested I-5 freeway by exiting the freeway in San Clemente and taking city streets to access Los Patrones Parkway, which turns into State Route 241, which provides high speed access to north and central Orange County as well as the Inland Empire.