Extra Roadwork on City Drive South an ‘Afterthought’

Dear Street Smart:

I travel along City Drive South in Orange every day and I have a major complaint about this street. This street was completely resurfaced last year. The old Tarmac was removed and new Tarmac was put down. But ever since the resurfacing took place, there has been new roadwork on a constant basis.

It appears to me that various utilities are being laid down under the Tarmac and then re-covered. The latest roadwork has men digging quite deeply into a trench.

Why is there not a system of planning or scheduling so that the new Tarmac doesn’t have to be removed and replaced? Surely this shortens the life of the surface. Why can’t the utilities, etc., be laid before the final surfacing?

Madeleine Caton, Huntington Beach

The work that was done back in 1992 was a slurry sealing, not resurfacing, of City Drive South, said Phil Pierce, street division manager for the city of Orange. That work was delayed on several occasions and done in stages because of county construction projects, he said.

Current construction on City Drive South includes the building of a new fire station, which requires some changing of median islands for access, and an underground communications network for the UCI Medical Center, Pierce said.

“This work all hit as an afterthought,” Pierce said. “Normally, when we do work, like for our annual street maintenance program, we advise the utility companies that if they have work to do, they have to do it in advance of our project or abide by a three-year moratorium.”

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Dear Street Smart:

Please explain why the entrance to the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway from the left lane on westbound Chapman Avenue in Orange is posted as a car pool lane only. I can understand the desire to separate car pools from single-occupant cars on the entrance ramp itself, but posting Chapman Avenue, a city street, seems to be an unnecessary and maybe even illegal extension of the car pool lane concept.

This also technically prohibits single-occupant cars from entering the freeway ramp from the left lane of westbound Chapman, even though it is very easy for them to move into the right-hand, single driver lane, as soon as they are on the ramp. The alternate entrance, from the right-hand lane of westbound Chapman, is one of the most dangerous merge entrances on any freeway.

Rather than posting Chapman and threatening to fine any single-occupant car drivers who use the left-hand entrance, wouldn’t it be better to allow single drivers to use this entrance and fine them only if they abuse the ramp markings? This would not only be practical and reasonable, it would also cut down on some of the traffic using the right-hand entrance, thus reducing the risk of accidents.

There are no restrictions on single drivers entering this ramp from eastbound Chapman. Let’s be fair! Take down the car pool lane restriction on Chapman Avenue. It’s not even close to a freeway car pool lane entrance, and it should not cost $271 to drive on Chapman Avenue!

R.H. McBridge, Orange

Drivers going west on Chapman to the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway have two on-ramps to enter the freeway, said Joe El Harake, HOV Coordinator for Caltrans. Single-occupancy vehicles may enter the loop metered on-ramp on the right and car poolers to the left, he said.

“Caltrans designed a car pool only on-ramp to give some relief for westbound traffic entering the Costa Mesa Freeway,” El Harake said. “This design was the result of a cooperative effort with the city of Orange to alleviate congestion at the Chapman on-ramps.”

Currently, there are “car pool only” entrances to freeway on-ramps in various locations in California, El Harake said. Those ramps will be appearing in other locations throughout Orange County, because they provide smoother traffic flow and help reduce interchange congestion.

Caltrans is planning to rebuild the Chapman interchange as part of widening the Costa Mesa Freeway, El Harake said. This improvement will be financed by Measure M.

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The Orange County Transportation Authority has approved more than $21 million in Measure M funds to ensure completion of the Beach Boulevard Smart Street project. The funding is part of an implementation plan approved by the OCTA Board of Directors July 26.

Smart Street improvements include street widening, signal coordination, pavement rehabilitation, turn pocket and other intersection improvements and the elimination of on-street parking to ensure efficient traffic flow. Improvements on Beach Boulevard have already been completed through a seven-mile stretch from Stark Street in Huntington Beach to Lincoln Avenue in Anaheim.

Future plans call for Smart Street improvements to be added south toward Ellis Avenue in Huntington Beach and north to Imperial Highway in La Habra. Final completion of the entire project is expected in 1997.