Connector allows smooth sailing from toll road to the beach

Mathis Winkler

Starting Friday, Orange County motorists will be able to make a smooth

transition from the northbound San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor

to the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway.

A new $6.5-million connector between the two roadways will give

drivers direct access to Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. So far, cars

driving on the toll road had to use surface streets to switch to the

beach-boundfreeway.

“Thousands of motorists will benefit from the completion of this

connector,” said Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva. As an Orange County

Transportation Authority board member, Silva chaired a task force that

spearheaded the project.

“It provides the missing link in the interchange and will allow

traffic to move more efficiently through the area,” Silva said.

The authority and the California Department of Transportation joined

forces to build the connector. The Transportation Corridor Agencies,

Newport Beach and Measure M funds from Costa Mesa paid for the project,

which took 13 months to complete.

Measure M is the half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 1990 for

transportation improvements.

Commuters traveling from south Orange County to the beach cities said

the connector will make their lives easier.

“Not only will it shave off time, but it will make the whole flow of

my commute so much better,” said Aileen Segal, a Laguna Hills resident

who works as a Web site designer on Newport Boulevard in Newport Beach.

Until now, Segal had to exit the toll road at Birch Street and use

surface streets to connect to the Costa Mesa Freeway, she said.

The Friday opening is expected to ease traffic congestion over the

Labor Day weekend, the second-busiest weekend after the Fourth of July in

Newport Beach.

The connector marks the beginning of an improvement project for the

San Diego Freeway and the toll road. By adding lanes and improving access

to the freeways, planners hope to improve the traffic flow. Covering an

area between the toll road at Birch Street and the freeway at Euclid

Street, the project is scheduled to begin later this year.