Agency approves six-lane highway through California state park

[Kadie]

Agency approves six-lane highway through California state park

Friday, February 24, 2006



(02-24) 16:52 PST SAN ONOFRE, Calif. (AP) --


A toll road agency has approved a six-lane highway through a state park despite opposition from surfers, environmentalists and state officials.


The Transportation Corridor Agencies board voted 12-3 on Thursday to approve the route through San Onofre State Beach, a popular park that President Nixon helped set aside in 1970.


Agency officials say the toll road, which would complete a 65-mile network of such roads in Orange County, is necessary to improve travel between Orange County and San Diego on an increasingly busy corridor.


Opponents, however, say the 16-mile project would ruin the last open-space camping site along a 200-mile stretch of coast ending at the Mexican border. The park is the state's fifth most popular park, with 2.7 million visitors each year.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/02/24/state/n165214S37.DTL