CA-55 plan has its own traffic

The frustration was palpable Tuesday in the voices of Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder and Councilwoman Katrina Foley as they had their first look at a presentation by the Orange County Transportation Authority about options for relieving traffic on the 55 Freeway.

In a large Neighborhood Community Center meeting room, chosen because of the fervent community involvement on the issue, OCTA officials unveiled the results of a recently completed study in which they narrowed down seven possible options for the freeway to four that will now be studied in more depth.

Based on community input and computer traffic simulations, the study concluded that the most preferred option was an underground extension of the freeway into Newport Beach — an option known as the cut-and-cover method — with the only close alternative being to do nothing at all.

The cut-and-cover method has long been heralded as the best solution to the problem by community members and council members alike, and Foley lambasted the OCTA representatives for what she considered to be excessive bureaucracy holding the project back.

“I think most people in this room could make this decision today,” Foley said. “I’d like to see this move forward with less bureaucracy.”

For many Eastside residents, the construction could not start soon enough. Kerry Weisbruch said she has been following the discussion for 29 years because the cars cutting through her neighborhood speed down the streets, creating a hazard for pedestrians, and they generate unpleasant noise and traffic.

She sat through the presentation with a folder in hand, its cover bulging with documents concerning the freeway.

“This presentation was pretty much just a review of what we already knew,” Weisbruch said. “In general, we feel as though there’s a lot of bureaucracy and the process is not going as quickly as it could.”

Time is necessary to jump through all of the federal and state hoops, though, according to OCTA’s project manager Michael Litschi. He estimates it would take a minimum of 10 years to begin construction on something as extensive as an underground extension of the 55 Freeway.

“There’s a process we have to follow any time we do a transportation project like this,” Litschi said.

Eastside resident Marnie Primmer said although she would like to see the traffic in her neighborhood reduced, she understands how long things like this take because of past work in the transportation construction industry.

At this point in the process OCTA is not asking Costa Mesa for input; the agency just wants the city’s blessing to go forward with the next phase in the study. Eventually a consensus will have to be reached for any project to go forward, Litschi said.

Roeder pleaded with the OCTA representatives to make the specifics of the study available for public viewing. He wants the community to have a chance to see the full scope of the analysis and comment to the City Council.

“I know that a lot of our residents are really interested in the details so I think it’s imperative to get it out there,” Roeder said.

Litschi said it would be impossible to put the document online because of its size, but agreed to give a copy to the city to reproduce.

OPTIONS FOR THE 55 FREEWAY

No building:

Cost: ~$0

Description: Nothing would be done to relieve traffic.

Pros: No traffic increase during construction, no land taken by the city, no money spent.

Cons: Traffic is expected to increase by 15% on the stretch of highway by 2030, which could produce unbearable traffic that this option doesn’t mitigate.

Cut and Cover:

Cost: ~$300 million

Description: A tunnel under Newport Boulevard would carry beach-going traffic while Newport Boulevard is reserved for visitors to Costa Mesa’s downtown.

Pros: Traffic going to the beach would have a direct, quick commute while Costa Mesa would have a big reduction in downtown car traffic.

Cons: Costs more than any of the other options and would take more than 10 years to come to fruition

Transportation System Management:

Cost: ~$10 million

Description: Small superficial improvements to the existing roads, like the addition of an extra turn lane or the synchronization of traffic lights, would seek to limit traffic jams.

Pros: Cheaper than all other options except doing nothing, and has a shorter construction time

Cons: Improvements do not add much capacity to roads, and would not decrease the amount of cars on surface streets

Terminal Enhancement:

Cost: $50-100 million

Description: A series of short, raised bridges and other smaller scale constructions would target particularly bad traffic areas on the stretch of Newport Boulevard from 19th Street to 17th Street and attempt to make passage easier.

Pros: Provides more traffic relief than Transportation System Management for less money and with less construction time than cut and cover

Cons: Provides less traffic relief than cut and cover for more money and with more construction time than Transportation System Management.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].