Gridlock fix called a patch

Alicia Robinson

The county’s two most congested intersections are on Newport

Boulevard in Costa Mesa, but a $7-million project to widen the road

is only expected to bring drivers limited relief.

Construction won’t begin until 2007. In the meantime, city

officials will work to get a long-term solution -- possibly a tunnel

for express lanes or a flyover-type ramp -- included in a Measure M

reauthorization effort.

The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday agreed to a widening

project that’s been studied since 2002. The work will add a

northbound lane to Newport Boulevard between 17th and 19th streets,

build a new southbound lane between 19th and Broadway, and add

landscaping, lighting and pedestrian improvements.

Widening Newport Boulevard should slightly ease clogging at the

intersections of 17th and 19th streets, which the Orange County

Transportation Authority considers the most congested in the county.

Acknowledging the plan is something of a bandage, city officials said

they’ll pursue a more comprehensive, and thus costly, remedy.

“I don’t think there’s any illusions that it’s necessarily going

to speed traffic through the downtown area,” City Manager Allan

Roeder said.

“I think that for the daily commuter, the time saving will

probably be imperceptible.”

But to do nothing, Roeder added, will only worsen the existing

problem of drivers cutting through neighborhoods to get off Newport

Boulevard.

The widening project should take five to eight months to build,

city transportation manager Peter Naghavi said. Work will take place

at night so as not to interrupt daytime traffic flow.

Even with that accommodation, the project is a double-edged sword

for downtown business owners. While they want a smoother flow of

traffic, they fear construction will divert drivers -- in some cases

permanently.

People put businesses on Newport Boulevard because they’ll be seen

by 100,000 cars a day, said Randy Garell, who owns the Grant Boys

store at Newport Boulevard and Rochester Street. But when the street

is gridlocked, people find other routes, he said.

“It was a very difficult decision for me to agree with the project

... because the last thing I wanted was construction in front of my

business,” said Garell, who was on an ad hoc committee that supported

the widening project.

But, he added, “We just have so much traffic in Costa Mesa that

we’ve got to do something to kind of ease it up or people will find

ways to avoid the area entirely.”

There’s less consensus on long-term solutions. The council will

ask Caltrans to take an extension of the Costa Mesa Freeway (55) out

of a master plan for the area. Instead, city officials will request

that alternatives, such as an overhead ramp or a tunnel, be included

in the next Measure M initiative.

Measure M is a sales tax that has funded transportation

improvements for the county. It expires in 2011, but officials may

ask voters to renew it in 2006.

The freeway now ends at 19th Street. Roeder said a ramp or tunnel

extension could cost at least $100 million.

Such a solution would take time -- Naghavi estimated it would take

about 15 years to get a freeway tunnel built. While commuters would

welcome a faster way through Costa Mesa, downtown business owners are

likely to balk.

“You put a flyway over the boulevard or dig a tunnel, you might as

well plant beans out here,” Garell said. “It will kill the downtown.”