Why the 19th Street bridge is no good

In response to the editorial regarding the 19th Street bridge, I’d

like to weigh in as a member of Costa Mesa’s Community Redevelopment

Action Committee who didn’t vote in favor of asking the City Council

to fund a study of the economic impact of a 19th Street bridge across

Talbert Regional Park.

Robert Graham, who continually refers to this project as “19th

Street to the beach,” needs to pull out a map. His argument is that

we Costa Mesans don’t have enough access to the state beach in

Huntington. When I look at a map, I cannot figure out:

* a single reason why anyone living in Mesa Verde would bypass

Adams Street if their destination is the state beach;

* a single reason why anyone living on the Eastside would bypass

Newport Boulevard/Superior in order to go all the way across 19th

Street, instead of dropping down to Coast Highway for quicker, easier

access to the state beach;

* a single reason why anybody living south of Estancia High

School and north of Victoria would bypass Victoria if their

destination was the state beach; or

* a single reason why anybody living east of Placentia near 19th

Street would be anything other than indifferent to a bridge at 19th

Street, because the trip down Placentia Avenue is nearly equidistant.

That only leaves the neighborhoods west of Placentia at 19th

Street as potential bridge proponents. Do they want a bridge? Of

course not, because of the noise and traffic. So there’s no

overwhelming need for access to the beach from 19th Street, and the

neighborhoods that would be most affected are the most against it. We

don’t need to study that.

So now, all a study needs to consider is whether or not the

traffic coming and going from Huntington Beach across 19th Street to

the Costa Mesa Freeway would create an economic benefit to the

businesses along 19th Street in Costa Mesa.

The most misunderstood concept regarding this issue is that bridge

proponents believe traffic equals business opportunities. In case you

are not aware, the intersection at 19th Street and Newport Boulevard

is the second-highest trafficked intersection in all of Orange

County. Do you know where Triangle Square is located? At the second

busiest intersection in the county. Yet Triangle Square is not

benefiting from this high traffic count. In fact, it’s 30% vacant.

That’s because traffic does not equal business.

If you want another example, think about the intersection of

Harbor Boulevard at Victoria Street. After all, this congested

intersection deals with Huntington Beach’s overflow traffic every

day. With all that traffic, can you tell me why the vacant Lucky

store took so long to fill up? Can you tell me why there is a small

used car lot at that intersection, instead of a nice new retail

outlet constructed to take advantage of all the traffic? The answer

is that traffic does not always equal business.

If you want to study this yourself, go talk to the business owners

along east 17th Street, who had to fight the city to keep them from

widening the street. Those property owners fought to slow traffic

down, to keep the traffic limited to neighbors who want to shop in

their stores. They know that if the city widens 17th Street, to make

it easier for Newport Beach traffic to get to the freeway, the

traffic will whiz right past their businesses and those businesses

will dry up and die on the vine.

This is how commuter traffic works. People get in their car in the

morning and follow the path of least resistance until they reach

their place of work. If they stop for coffee, it’s at a place near

their home. Otherwise, they don’t stop until they get to work. In the

evening, they simply reverse their course, stopping for groceries

either near their place of work or near their home, but not in

between.

Huntington Beach and Newport Beach have been unwilling to make the

road improvements necessary to get their residents onto the freeways.

Newport Beach refused to abide by their agreement to finish their

portion of the Costa Mesa Freeway. Now Coast Highway is a mess, and

they want help from Costa Mesa both on the east side (17th Street)

and the west side (a 19th Street bridge). Huntington Beach refuses to

make the necessary improvements to either Brookhurst or Magnolia

Street that would allow their residents to more easily access the San

Diego Freeway to the north.

So they come across Adams and Victoria. And if you build a bridge,

they’ll come across 19th Street also, because traffic seeks the path

of least resistance. And you know where they’ll end up every morning?

Backed up at the newly ordained busiest intersection in the county,

at 19th Street and Newport Boulevard. And that bridge won’t help to

sell one cup of coffee or one doughnut.

So, we don’t need to study this. The reasons given are false.

There must be some other motivation. I’ve explained why Newport Beach

wants it, but I’m not sure I know why Costa Mesa resident Robert

Graham wants it.

I urge the Costa Mesa City Council to schedule a meeting between

the city manager and the Community Redevelopment Action Committee to

answer questions for newer members as to the background and history

of the 19th Street and Gisler bridges. This will take far less time

and money than another study.

CHRIS FEWEL

Costa Mesa