Red Hill blues

Susan McCormack

COSTA MESA--This spring, the earth will shake and roads will move. And

it won’t stop until 2004.

Caltrans and the Orange County Transportation Authority are gearing up

to complete the last leg of a five-year, $150-million project linking 120

miles of carpool lanes throughout the county. The project will link

carpool lanes on the San Diego Freeway with those on the Costa Mesa

Freeway.

The project will include nine months of construction beginning in

March to raise Red Hill Avenue where it crosses the San Diego Freeway to

accommodate a carpool-lane connector. The new bridge, which will be 16

feet higher than it is now, will include a bike lane.

Adding to the inconvenience, the carpool lane on the northbound Costa

Mesa Freeway was closed in late October and will not reopen until late

2002, and the John Wayne Airport ramp leading to the northbound Costa

Mesa Freeway will be closed during March.

Those nine months will be hard on businesses in the area, said Ed

Fawcett, president of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce.

“Is that going to affect us? Absolutely,” he said at a recent

information meeting on the project. “It’s going to be hard.”

To reduce problems during construction, the city recently voted to

change the timing of traffic signals where the Costa Mesa Freeway meets

Paularino Avenue and install extra left-turn arrows in the area.

Several business executives in the Red Hill area said Friday they were

unaware of the planned construction, but aren’t worried about traffic

congestion in the business district.

“Anything is going to be better than the bottleneck that’s [on the San

Diego Freeway] now,” said Nick Adcock, president of The Shop on Airport

Loop Drive.

Adcock said he isn’t even particularly concerned about any noise from

the construction because it will help drown out the thunderous roar of

airplanes taking off and landing next door.

“On the weekends, we lose the ambient noise that blocks out the

airport noise,” he said.

Mick Rad, owner of Cabriolet Motors on Airport Loop Drive, agreed.

“The airport makes everybody crazy,” he said. “You can’t talk on the

phone with the door open.”

Rad said business owners in the area would be happy a freeway onramp

also was built at Red Hill Avenue because the onramp they now use is

inconvenient.

Although there are no plans for an onramp at the location, as part of

the work an onramp is scheduled to be built at Anton Boulevard along with

an offramp at Avenue of the Arts and Anton.

When the project is finished, the linked carpool lanes will eliminate

the need for motorists to weave across lanes while switching freeways.

Officials say the project is necessary because more than 433,000

motorists use the interchange daily, making it one of the top 10 busiest

in the country.

To reduce potential road rage -- not to mention confusion -- the

transportation agencies have been working on an aggressive public

awareness campaign to inform motorists of the construction long before it

happens.

Several community meetings have been held and more may be scheduled if

there is a need. The agencies have created brochures describing

construction activity, even going so far as to distribute a brochure

solely designed to help drivers decipher pictorial road signs.

Anyone interested in the progress of the project may sign up to

receive fax or e-mail updates, be sent a copy of an informational video

or host a brown bag lunch and presentation at work.

“If people know what’s coming, they can plan ahead,” said Dave

Simpson, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority.

“We need to stay on top of what’s going on,” said Diane Pritchett,

executive director of South Coast Metro Alliance. “There will be some

detours and if [motorists] are aware of them ahead of time, they won’t

have problems.”

About 70% of the project is funded by Measure M, a half-cent sales tax

approved by county voters in 1990. The balance of the project’s cost is

being paid with city and federal government funds.

Updated information on the project also is available by calling (800)

724-0353 or checking the Web site at o7 https://www.octa.netf7 .

GRAPHIC

During much of next year, the Red Hill Avenue overpass will be closed

as improvements are made to carpool lanes on the San Diego Freeway. Some

business owners are worried about how the closure will affect their

bottom line. Others are anxious for the improvements to be finished.