Canyon congestion on the agenda

Adding lanes to Laguna Canyon Road seemed like an unpopular solution to congestion on the main entryway into the city when a city-hired consultant unveiled an initial report on the corridor Tuesday.

RBF Consulting, which has an office in Irvine, has been tasked with coming up with ideas as launching points for public discussion.

On Tuesday, the company presented five ideas for relieving the traffic problems on the road that included possible lane additions, a median as part of the two-way turn lane and the replacement of traffic signals at Canyon Acres Drive and El Toro Road with roundabouts. All five ideas included undergrounding or relocating utilities and creating an on-street bike lane.

The council, in a move intended to dovetail with RBF’s role, unanimously voted to form a task force that will conduct public meetings to identify ways of easing congestion, decreasing response times for fire and police personnel, creating safe pedestrian and bicycle paths, and relocating or undergrounding utility poles along the state-owned highway.

RBF spent the last year working with the city, Caltrans, OC Parks and the Orange County Transportation Authority to develop the five possible alternatives for an area from Canyon Acres Drive north to El Toro Road.

Laguna Canyon Road, which meanders past small businesses, homes and open space, is routinely clogged with cars during morning and afternoon commutes. Some residents say the problem is only getting worse.

Laguna Canyon Road sees 38,000 to 42,000 cars a day, said Bob Matsen, RBF’s vice president of transportation and planning. Roadways with its dimensions should carry no more than 30,000 cars a day, he added.

RBF’s traffic study indicated that it takes a driver more than five minutes to get from Canyon Acres Drive to El Toro Road during the summertime morning rush hour. Adding an additional northbound lane would decrease drive time by one minute and 42 seconds, according to the report.

If a second southbound lane was added — making Laguna Canyon Road a four-lane highway — drivers would save 57 seconds from El Toro Road to Canyon Acres Drive during peak summertime morning hours and 31 seconds in peak summertime afternoon hours, the report says.

Councilman Kelly Boyd warned about unintended consequences.

“We could add three lanes in and three lanes going out, [but] it won’t do any good if we don’t have any place to park,” Boyd said.

Resident Barbara Metzger cautioned that widening the road would violate the city’s land-use element, a part of the general plan that rejects widening sections of Laguna Canyon Road.

The goal is to “encourage a pedestrian-oriented, non-motorized community by developing a system of bikeways and pedestrian paths and discouraging high-speed traffic along city streets,” the land-use element says.

Mayor Pro Tem Bob Whalen and Councilwoman Toni Iseman will lead the monthly task force meetings, which are set to begin in October at the Laguna Beach Community and Susi Q Center. Whalen and Iseman will not vote on any recommendations to the council, City Manager John Pietig said.

Whalen advised the audience to be open-minded.

“At this point it is wrong to be talking about three lanes or four lanes,” Whalen said. “We are talking about a process. This is one of the most significant undertakings the city has had with a task force. I don’t know if it’s going to be zero new lanes or one new lane.

“What I do know is that the status quo on the road is unacceptable. There is danger to pedestrians out there, and we need to come together and have a dialogue that is open and inclusive.”

The council Tuesday also approved paying RBF an additional $50,000 to facilitate the public meetings with the task force. The goal is to bring two or three recommendations to the council by spring 2015, according to a staff report.

Whalen, Iseman and city staff will continue communicating with Caltrans and OCTA to identify possible federal, state and regional funding for road improvements.