The November 19, 2007, opening of the South Bay Expressway came with gobs of hype, hope and circumstance.

An idea that had been on the radar of transportation folks since the late 1950s, this 10-mile road, stretching from state road 54 in Spring Valley to the Otay Mesa border (SR 905), would make it easier for South Bay residents to get to other San Diego spots from their explosively growing area. The price tag: $635 million.

Also quite noteworthy this was just the second road in California that teamed private and public funding with a private operation. SR-91 in Orange County was the other.

The weekend before the opening featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony with such big shots as Mayor Jerry Sanders and other state and local politicos. Other events were a cycling tour, a fun run/walk, a Santa Claus parade and fireworks.

But more than three years later, South Bay Expressway (also known as SBX) has been beset by a few potholes.

The operator of the toll road filed for bankruptcy last year after it was clear that financial and usage projections were not on target, the latter some 40 percent lower than expected. SBX had outstanding loans of $510 million at the time, including a $170 million debt owed to the U.S Department of Transportation. Then there was the unresolved litigation of $600 million with construction contractors.

SBX received somewhat of a reprieve on April 14 of this year, when the Federal bankruptcy court approved its Chapter 11 reorganization plan. Under this arrangement, California Transportation Ventures has been folded. Australia toll road investors Macquarie, which was originally slated to finance and manage construction of the expressway for 35 years before the state took over, has written off its interest in the road.

The terms of the settlement call for the South Bay Expressway debt to be pared to about $288 million. Claims from builders have been settled. A new company, South Bay Expressway LLC, has taken over ownership.

"Our goal was to reorganize our business and restructure our debt," said South Bay Expressway CEO Greg Hulsizer, who estimates it could take nine months to a year to fully reorganize. "I'm happy to say that during the past year, we've accomplished that and more. We also made improvements to the toll road and in our community. We've worked really hard to get to where we are today. We're convinced that this hard work will pay off for you as a customer and our business. And things are looking up."

Such wasn't the case when SBX's financial picture started breaking up. Of course, the economic downturn clobbered a whole lot of jobs and businesses, and South Bay Expressway was merely one of the many victims. That the South Bay cities were suffering some of the highest foreclosure rates anywhere didn't help, either.

Plus, unemployment in the area nearly tripled and a massive decline in cross-border traffic whittled down traffic to a fraction of what it could have been.

"It was the perfect storm," Hulsizer said. "We were severely impacted by the recession."

Regarding unemployment, fewer jobs meant fewer people driving to work, meaning less revenue generated from tolls. Some 25,000 vehicles had been using the road daily, which is a far cry from the 60,000 that was expected when the road opened. This meant toll revenue was half what had been anticipated.

Besides the reorganization, other good news down the road could be in the offing for SBX. The San Diego County Association of Governments (SANDAG) is negotiating to buy the expressway. Of course, no one knows how this is going to turn out or how long it will take.

"All I can say is they've made us an offer and we're in negotiations," Hulsizer said, "As soon as anything can be said, SANDAG will take the lead in it."

Hulsizer did say he expects SBX to recover from its bumps on the road. He cites increased use of credit-card machines to pay tolls and increased traffic to some 27,500 vehicles a day as reasons to be optimistic.

"Things are looking up," Hulsizer said. "Economic growth is beginning to return to the South Bay. We have continued to add new customers and our traffic counts are higher than they were a year ago."