Foothill Toll Roads :: Environmental Wildlife Essays

Foothill Toll Roads every(prenominal) those that are regulars of the I-5 south know how agitating it is to sit by dint of with(predicate) the bumper to bumper transaction, peculiarly on those 90 degree plus summer days. An alternative thoroughfare is under construction which go out help to alleviate some of these traffic woes. The proposed toll road go forth run parallel to the I-5 and will pertain the current portion of the Foothill Tollway to the I-5, just south of San Clemente. As good as this sounds, many sacrifices must be made to accommodate this preferred route. Those that will feel the greatest wrath of the new road are the animals and plants that wait in the San Onofre State Park. The preferred route will be imperturbable of a toll road which will cut directly through the 3,126 acre park. Those that are in favor of the toll road estimate that by the year 2010, the Foothill Corridor is projected to relieve Interstate 5 of 35,000 cars per day, Interstate 405 of 22 ,000, PCH of 13,000 and Moulton effort of 20,000. It is estimated that the corridor will carry 170,000 vehicle trips per day. The 15 miles of roadway will contract 24 million cubic yards of earthwork and 1.1 million tons of asphalt paving. The Foothill exile Corridor Agency (TCA) has designed a plan with the greatest transportation benefits and the least(prenominal) environmental impacts. The mitigation of biological impacts includes 4 wildlife undercrossings, the creation of over 26.7 landed estate of wetlands and planting or enhancing 262 acres of the coastal sage scrub habitat. Environmentalists mate the development of this because of the wildlife that will be endangered and threaten, primarily the California Gnatcatcher. Species that will be endangered include the Pacific pocket mouse, Arroyo southwestern toad, Tidewater goby, south willow flycatcher, least Bells vireo and the Riverside fairy shrimp. Those animals that will be threatened consist of the California red-leg ged frog and the southern steelhead trout (which will no agelong have viable habitat in that area). The route would cut through the canyon area that is the home to the core population of the California gnatcatcher. The seek and Wildlife officials estimate that 35 pairs of the birds, which are listed as an endangered species, would be break or displaced by the road and effects of the noise created by construction. at that place are about 100 pairs of these birds occupying the canyon area and it is from this core that the gnatcatchers gravel new birds to surrounding areas.