The Boards of Directors of the San Joaquin Hills (SJHTCA) and Foothill/Eastern (F/ETCA) Transportation Corridor Agencies approved budgets totaling $345.4 million – $146 million for SJHTCA and $199.4 million for F/ETCA – to fund operations, advance initiatives that support capital improvements for the 73, 133, 241 and 261 Toll Roads, enhance customer service for more than 1.5 million accountholders and strengthen financial health. Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) begins July 1, 2019.

“More people are choosing to drive our roads every day and Orange County’s transportation infrastructure has benefited greatly over the years from the value The Toll Roads provide,” said Mike Kraman CEO of the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA). “We are entering FY20 following five consecutive years of strong growth and our finances are stronger today than at any other time our 30-year history. The FY20 budgets were designed to keep expenditures flat as our revenues are projected to steadily increase.”

The FY20 budgets provide funding for:

• Completing the $38 million bridge overcrossing at Oso Parkway and finalizing the environmental document for the proposed 241/91 Express Connector
• Improving customer service, operations and simplifying customers’ preferred payment options, while also enabling all of TCA’s 1.5 million accountholders to use all toll facilities in California with the transition to new FasTrak® sticker transponders
• Sponsoring and initiating the formal environmental review process, in partnership with Caltrans, for the South County Traffic Relief Effort
• Growing cash reserves to protect against economic downturns and allow for future pay-as-you-go capital improvement project financing and preserve the flexibility for early debt repayment
• Maintaining TCA’s strong financial position, credit ratings status and meeting investor expectations

“We close FY19 with a major milestone – Caltrans’ District 12 Director signing the Project Study Report-Project Development Support (PSR-PDS) for South Orange County Traffic Relief Effort – allowing us to move into the Project Approval and Environmental Document (PA&ED) phase, where potential environmental impacts of alternatives will be evaluated and shared with the public for input,” Kraman said. “We move into FY20 with ambition and driven by initiatives to keep people moving in and around Orange County with congestion-free alternatives to Southern California’s gridlocked highways.”

Toll revenue collected goes toward retiring The Toll Roads’ bond debt, funding additional improvements and covering costs to operate toll collection. Currently, more than 325,000 daily transactions are recorded on the 51-mile toll road system that represents 20 percent of Orange County’s highway system and is the largest toll road network in California.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) are two joint powers authorities formed by the California legislature in 1986 to plan, finance, construct and operate Orange County’s public toll road system. Fifty-one miles of the system are complete, including the 73, 133, 241 and 261 Toll Roads. TCA continues to meet the region’s growing need for congestion-free transportation alternatives.