Coast Highway awaits makeover

Andrew Edwards

Corona del Mar business owners will be able to spruce up Coast

Highway after the City Council voted last week go ahead with a

beautification project, though their plan lacked the support of the

area’s representative.

Councilman Dick Nichols was the only member of the council to

object to the project, which would involve the construction of

landscaped medians along a stretch of the highway that slices through

his district.

The medians are slated to be built along Coast Highway between

MacArthur Boulevard and Poppy Avenue, Corona del Mar business

improvement district chairman John Blom said. The project was

designed to give the area a more quaint ambience.

“You have beautiful flowers and foliage that bring a whole

different atmosphere to the village,” Blom said. “Instead of seeing

just cars, you’re seeing greenery.”

Blom described the median installation as an upgrade to traffic

safety, since they could prevent drivers from making illegal U-turns

on Coast Highway. Nichols said traffic concerns were behind his

opposition to the project.

Nichols said he believed there is not enough room on the roadway

for medians. He argued traffic accidents could clog the highway since

medians would make it impossible to divert cars along the center of

the road.

Blom questioned whether Nichols properly represented his district

by voting against the project, but Nichols said his vote was intended

to benefit Corona del Mar homeowners, who could be burdened by

traffic jams on Coast Highway.

“When we annexed [Coast Highway] from the state, we said we would

not slow it down -- we would not inhibit traffic through the highway

-- and that’s what we’re doing,” Nichols said.

Last October, the city obtained jurisdiction over Coast Highway

from Newport Coast Drive to Jamboree Road. The transition of the

roadway from Cal Trans to Newport Beach made it possible for the city

to approve the project, which is part of the business district

improvement plan.

The beautification plan did not include provisions to light

crosswalks on Coast Highway, an idea that had been discussed when the

road was turned over to the city.

Councilman John Heffernan wanted the plan to include crosswalk

improvements and said he would continue to support the concept.

“I think it will be revisited, because I’m not satisfied,”

Heffernan said. He believes lighted crosswalks could protect elderly

pedestrians who live in the area.

The median project is expected to cost about $870,000, and the

business improvement district has been tapped to pay $305,000, Blom

said.

Construction is expected to last about four months and could begin

as early as March 28, though no exact start date has been set, said

Sean Crumby of the public works department.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards

@latimes.com.