COSTA MESA/NEWPORT/IRVINE : NEWPORT BEACH : Balboa Group Fights Traffic-Signal Plan

A group of Balboa Island residents has formed to oppose plans to replace many of the crosswalks on Balboa Boulevard with traffic signals.

More than a dozen Balboa residents, meeting with Mayor Pro Tem Ruthelyn Plummer, gathered Thursday night to go on record against recommendations by a consulting firm that the crosswalks be replaced by signals and overhead pedestrian-crossing signs.

The consulting firm, Austin-Foust, recommended that the city eliminate most existing pedestrian crosswalks and replace them with signals at 38th Street, 23rd Street and Island Avenue. The firm also recommended that overhead pedestrian-crossing signs be placed on 41st Street, 23rd Street and 21st Street.

The consulting firm’s recommendations were made after a study found that more than 80% of all pedestrian accidents occur in marked crosswalks.

According to Austin-Foust, the bottom line is “pedestrian crossings need to be positively protected and the best protection are traffic signals with the minimum being overhead signs.”

Many of the residents, however, argued that the real solution is slowing traffic along Balboa Boulevard by installing more stop signs and leaving the pedestrian crosswalks where they are. They also want more police patrols in the area to arrest speeders.

Plummer said she disagreed with the Austin-Foust findings and “would have trouble supporting them.”