Driving away traffic woes

There’s no need to worry about lines of cars dumping off the Orange

(57) Freeway onto Huntington Beach streets. Or, conversely, about

cars full of shoppers leaving Huntington on the 57 freeway for stores

and malls beyond the city’s borders -- and beyond its tax reach.

Late last month, the Orange County Transportation Authority agreed

to exclude from a study the possibility of extending the 57 past the

San Diego (405) Freeway to Pacific Coast Highway. Huntington Beach

city leaders, including City Councilwoman Cathy Green, who was among

those voting against that part of the study, had maintained vehement

opposition to the proposed freeway, which they said would increase

traffic on city streets and encourage shoppers to drive to other

cities.

Other opponents raised concerns about the freeway’s being built

along the Santa Ana River, which empties into the ocean at the south

end of town and already is too great a source of pollution. There

even was little in the way of evidence that the coastal link would

get much use.

Building the extension, in other words, just didn’t make sense.

And it’s encouraging that our elected officials recognized that fact

and didn’t waste time or money studying the obvious.

It’s equally obvious, of course, that our traffic problems are not

going to disappear without expanded or additional freeways. The

promise of the 57 being built down to the 405 freeway is worth

studying, certainly, and would seem to add a route away from

Huntington Beach that would ease travel and commute woes. Huntington

Beach residents would benefit by getting to the expanded 57 quickly

from major streets such as Beach Boulevard and Brookhurst Street that

connect to the 405.

This simple extension would only be a part of any permanent

solution to the county’s gridlock. But for Surf City, it sounds like

it could be a big improvement.