Proposed extension SR 241 was planned to extend from its current southern terminus at Oso Parkway south to
I-5 at the
San Diego County border near
San Onofre. This southern extension, known as Foothill-South, was intended to be the final piece in Orange County's planned network of public toll roads. The extension would have provided an alternate route from
SR 91 to I-5 for those traveling from
Riverside County and through southeast Orange County, south to San Diego County. Proponents of the project included a coalition of chambers of commerce, who argued it would provide greater access for communities such as
Foothill Ranch,
Rancho Santa Margarita,
Las Flores,
Coto de Caza, Wagon Wheel and
Rancho Mission Viejo.
Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) originally projected that traffic would increase 60 percent by 2025, and estimated that Foothill-South would alleviate traffic on I-5 by 2.6 to 8 percent. The proposed route was selected by a collaborative group that included the
Federal Highway Administration,
Environmental Protection Agency,
Fish & Wildlife Service, the
Army Corps of Engineers and
Caltrans. Initially, the plan would have placed the final of the roadway on
Camp Pendleton Marine Base, as well as through a section of
San Onofre State Beach, which is leased from the
United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps reserved the right to grant easements for rights of way when the lease with the
California Department of Parks and Recreation was signed in 1971. Eventually, spokespeople from Camp Pendleton would deny permission to build the road on the base but approved the road's construction through the portion of the base that hosts the state park. The TCA Board of Directors, local elected officials who represent the areas adjacent to the toll road routes, certified the project's Environmental Impact Report in 2006. Many conservationists, environmental groups, and some residents of
San Clemente opposed the extension to San Onofre State Beach. Former California Attorney General
Bill Lockyer filed two lawsuits in 2006, one on behalf of the Native American Heritage Commission. A third lawsuit was filed by a coalition of several groups, including
Sierra Club, the
Surfrider Foundation,
Natural Resources Defense Council. It was later revealed that the TCA funded a study in support of removing the
California gnatcatcher from the federal
Endangered Species list, which would have made it easier to build the toll road extension. On February 6, 2008, the
California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 to reject the planned extension through San Onofre State Beach. The TCA appealed the Coastal Commission's decision to the
U.S. Secretary of Commerce. On December 18, 2008, the Department of Commerce announced that it would uphold the California Coastal Commission's ruling that found the TCA's proposed extension inconsistent with the
California Coastal Act. In a release issued by the Department of Commerce, the DOC noted that at least one reasonable alternative to the project existed, and that the project was not necessary in the interest of national security. In November 2016, the TCA reached a legal settlement ending the 15-year dispute with the more than a dozen environmental organizations and the state of California. The settlement guaranteed that any roadway would avoid the Donna O'Neill Land Conservatory, the San Onofre State Beach Park, and other environmentally sensitive areas. The environmental organizations have agreed not to sue the TCA over other potential alignments that connect the 241 Toll Road to the I-5 freeway as long as the alignments do not enter the "environmental avoidance area."
Los Patrones Parkway Rancho Mission Viejo, which has publicly condemned all the proposed alignments of the SR 241 extensions, helped to fund the construction of a four-lane toll-free freeway known as Los Patrones Parkway. The road, maintained by
Orange County, follows the exact alignment as the proposed Tesoro Extension of SR 241 between Oso Parkway and Cow Camp Road. Rancho Mission Viejo provided $85 million of the total estimated cost of $100 million to construct the road. Los Patrones Parkway also includes a new multi-purpose pathway on the west side of the highway between Oso Parkway and Chiquita Canyon Drive, two wildlife crossings under the road, wildlife fencing, and replanting of over 100 acres of vegetation. However, local environmental groups expressed concerns that the TCA may acquire Los Patrones Parkway in the future to extend SR 241 southward. On August 10, 2018, the Orange County Public Works began construction on a $30 million project to turn a section of Oso Parkway into a bridge to allow a direct connection between SR 241 and Los Patrones Parkway. The new interchange was completed in mid-January 2021. Los Patrones Parkway was built in two phases. Phase 1 of the road between Oso Parkway and Chiquita Canyon Drive opened on September 12, 2018. However, due to significant rainfall, the opening of Phase 2 of the road between Chiquita Canyon Drive and Cow Camp Road was delayed twice from the planned deadline of late-2018, and did not open until October 17, 2019. Meanwhile, the TCA continued to explore alternative options to extend the toll road through
San Juan Capistrano and
San Clemente to I-5. After facing opposition, the TCA Board of Directors voted unanimously on March 12, 2020, to support a proposal to extend the county's toll-free Los Patrones Parkway south to Avenida La Pata near the San Clemente city limit. In 2021, state senator
Patricia Bates introduced Senate Bill 760 to remove the segment between Oso Parkway and I-5 segment from SR 241's legal definition, which would permanently kill any plan to convert Los Patrones Parkway to a toll road or any other plan to extend SR 241. Exit numbers assigned at SR 241 remain starting at 14 instead of 1 or 0, assuming there would still be an extension to I-5. The connector will connect northbound SR 241 lanes with eastbound SR 91 express lanes, and westbound SR 91 express lanes with southbound SR 241 lanes. When SR 241 was constructed, there was room left in the middle should the connector come in the future. The toll connector is scheduled to start construction in 2025 and be complete by 2027, with it opening to traffic in 2028. ==Tolls==