Current Initiatives

Notice of Exemption for Repair of Fire Damage to Toll Plaza Buildings

Description of Project:

The F/ETCA will repair the buildings and landscape at Tomato Springs and Orange Grove toll plaza areas, and a median staircase between the Orange Grove toll plazas damaged by the Silverado Fire (October 2020).

Description of NOE:

The Project is exempt under Section 15301 because there is no possibility that the Project will have a significant effect on the environment. The Project consists of repairing the buildings and landscape at Tomato Springs and Orange Grove toll plazas, and a median staircase between the Orange Grove toll plazas that were damaged in the 2020 Silverado Fire on State Route 133 and 241 and will not involve any capacity enhancement. The proposed Project falls within the definitions provided for Class 1 exemption pursuant to Section 15301(d) of the CEQA Guidelines relating to the restoration or rehabilitation of damaged structures to meet current standards of public health and safety.

Notice of Exemption for Repair of Fire Damage to Toll Plaza Buildings (PDF)

Notice of Exemption for the Aliso Creek Attenuator Replacement

The Project proposes to install an additional barrier and replace a crash cushion, impacted during a single vehicle collision, with a Quadguard M10-type crash cushion at the north end of the abandoned toll plaza median at the Aliso Creek entrance ramp on State Route 73. The purpose of the Project is to enhance highway safety by reducing the potential and severity of run-off-road accidents.

Notice of Exemption for the Aliso Creek Attenuator Replacement (PDF)

Notice of Exemption for the Fire-Damaged Signs Replacement

Notice of Exemption - Fire-Damaged Signs Replacement (PDF)

Live Oak Plaza Conservation Area Final Grazing Feasibility Study

Notice of Exemption for the Live Oak Plaza Conservation Area Final Grazing Feasibility Study Recommendations (PDF)

Saddle Club Preservation Property Site Use Plan implementation Project

SR 241 Wildlife Protective Fence

One of TCA’s major environmental initiatives was the completion of the Wildlife Protection Fence along State Route 241 and the ongoing monitoring of the fence’s effectiveness and the associated bridge undercrossings and large culverts efficacy. These findings will help TCA and other transportation agencies design and build future projects. The 10- to 12-foot-high fence was constructed to protect mountain lions, muledeer, coyotes and bobcats living in the Santa Ana Mountains from passing cars. In addition to shielding them from the road, the new fence, which spans both sides of a six-mile stretch of SR 241, also funnels them to existing wildlife bridges and culvert undercrossings that allow them safe passage to open spaces on either side of the road. The project was the result of a joint study with University of California, Davis into the movement and health of the area’s wildlife, including GPS tracking of mountain lions, and collaboration with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Want to learn more? View the poster (PDF) we created showcasing the project to more than 500 transportation professionals and researchers at the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation in September 2015. A similar poster was presented at the Infra Eco Network Europe (IENE) International Conference on Ecology and Transportation in September 2016.

KABC Reporter Rob Hayes, interviews TCA’s Chief Environmental Planning Officer to discuss the Agencies’ wildlife safety fence along the 241 Toll Road.

Live Oak Plaza

TCA continues to manage Live Oak Plaza, a 23.2-acre site that forms a wildlife connection to the Cleveland National Forest. Its oak woodlands, riparian and coastal sage scrub provide habitat for the California gnatcatcher and Riverside fairy shrimp.

Saddle Club in Trabuco Canyon

TCA purchased land near O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon in late 2017. Once slated for residential development, the property known as Saddle Club will be preserved as natural habitat in perpetuity, ensuring it will remain undeveloped for future generations. TCA balances the impact of construction of its roads and facilities by creating habitat in other parts of the region. The agency will “bank” the preserved habitat at Saddle Club and use it as credit for future projects, which could include adding interchanges or widening roads. This land east of the 241 Toll Road will be home to self-sustaining oak, coastal sage scrub and riparian habitats, and provide an important link for birds and animals to access a natural corridor extending to the Cleveland National Forest. Additionally, Saddle Club is planned to be the first TCA mitigation site to be open to the public for recreational use.

Strawberry Farms Mitigation Site

TCA will continue to restore 15 acres of coastal sage and cactus scrub habitat and native perennial grassland at Strawberry Farms, located in Irvine and overlooking the Strawberry Farms Golf Course. Part of the larger Central/Coastal Natural Community Conservation Plan area, the open space is home to several species such as the California gnatcatcher and the coastal cactus wren.

Flowers at Upper Chiquita Mitigation Site

Upper Chiquita Canyon Conservation Area Management

TCA oversees the ongoing management of this 1,158-acres of open space under existing agreements with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the California Dept. of Fish & Wildlife. Among TCA’s responsibilities are preserving, managing and restoring this preserved habitat, including weed control and scientific testing of different habitat management techniques. Before TCA purchased this property near Coto de Caza, the former grazing pasture was zoned for residential and golf course development. Now permanently protected as open space, the restored habitat supports important populations of the California gnatcatcher and coastal cactus wren. Several families of deer are usually spotted running throughout this site on any day.

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