The bike path to nowhere

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- There aren’t many chances for someone to get a bicycle

across the San Diego Freeway during rush hour.

That’s why Costa Mesa resident Frank Colver would like to preserve the

one option residents have: An old underground railroad crossing between

Fairview Road and Harbor Boulevard, which is on the city’s Master Plan of

Bikeways as a future bike route.

“This is a golden opportunity,” Colver said. “It provides a way to get a

bike from the south side of the freeway to the north side in between two

very busy intersections.”

But the underpass is likely to be closed to make way for the C.J.

Segerstrom Home Ranch project, said Costa Mesa Transportation Services

Manager Peter Naghavi. Even without the Home Ranch project -- which

includes plans for an IKEA store and multiple office buildings -- the

underpass will still need to be removed to allow for freeway

improvements.

The entrance to the railroad tunnel is visible from South Coast Drive

just west of Susan Street. The quiet passage extends under the freeway,

where thousands of cars rush overhead, and opens up behind the Wickes

furniture store.

Naghavi said improvements to the transitions between the San Diego and

Corona del Mar freeways will require that the underpass be closed.

“It’s impossible to keep it,” Naghavi said.

The freeway improvements include a new mile-long “offramp” at Harbor

Boulevard, which will also improve access to the freeway from Fairview

Road. Bridges also will be constructed to avoid weaving problems for

drivers trying to reach freeway exits.

“In order to maintain this bike path, we would have to extend this bike

path under all these new structures,” Naghavi said.

The cost? About $350,000, he said.

Naghavi also said he didn’t think the underpass was a crucial part of the

Master Plan of Bikeways, since there were other routes such as Fairview

Road and the Santa Ana River Trail bicyclists could take.

Colver disagrees.

“The problem with Fairview Road is you have to get past nightmarish on-

and offramps,” Colver said.

He’s not alone.

The county of Orange’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department has also

recommended preserving the underpass as a future bikeway, said Jeff

Dickman, chief of trail planning.

According to their written recommendation, the underpas provides a

valuable alternative to traversing freeway interchanges. The bikeway

could also provide a link via Gisler Avenue to the Santa Ana River

Bikeway and bypass high traffic on Harbor Boulevard.

Colver maintains that since the underpass is already built, money could

still be saved in the end. The expense would also be worth the public

benefit in the end.

“It’s a rare opportunity to get a bike path under the freeway,” Colver

said. “It would be a shame to abandon it and not use it.”