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
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