Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) are two joint powers authorities formed by the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...

in 1986 to plan, finance, construct, and operate

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

s. TCA consists of two local government agencies: * The San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency which oversees the San Joaquin Hills Toll Road (State Route 73). * The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency which runs both the Foothill Toll Road (State Route 241) and the

Eastern Toll Road Eastern Toll Road or Eastern Turnpike may refer to the following toll roads: ;United States * The Eastern Transportation Corridor, the tollway system in California, comprising portions of: ** California State Route 133, State Route 133 ** Californi ...

( State Route 241 and State Route 261). The toll roads maintained by TCA are financed with tax-exempt bonds on a stand-alone basis -- taxpayers are not responsible for repaying any debt if toll revenues fall short. Some California lawmakers and toll road advocates favor using similar local agencies to build and maintain future tollways, especially after the controversy of authorizing a private company to run the

91 Express Lanes State Route 91 (SR 91) is a major east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves several regions of the Greater Los Angeles urban area. A freeway throughout its entire length, it officially runs from Vermont Avenue i ...

. Others oppose them, arguing that new toll roads will just facilitate and perpetuate sprawl. The Transportation Corridor Agency funded studies which argued that the

California gnatcatcher The California gnatcatcher (''Polioptila californica'') is a small long insectivorous bird which frequents dense coastal sage scrub growth. This species was recently split from the similar black-tailed gnatcatcher of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan d ...

was not a distinct species, in order to argue for delisting of the species under the

Endangered Species Act of 1973 The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

and enable extension of the State Route 241.

References

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External links

Transportation Corridor Agencies
Transportation in Orange County, California Toll road authorities of the United States Transit agencies in California Roads in Orange County, California Southern California freeways