Street widening nearly complete

Six months of construction on Newport Boulevard to widen the major road through downtown Costa Mesa to Newport Beach is almost complete.

The project to add lanes to the highway to ease traffic flow on the frequently congested artery and beautify it should be finished within two weeks, according to Costa Mesa Public Services Director Peter Naghavi.

Shrubs and palm trees still have to be planted in the concrete medians, and lighting still needs to be installed, but the major road construction and paving is complete.

The $7-million project will be completed within its budget and more-or-less on schedule, Naghavi said.

Most of the construction was done at night, but daytime commuters also occasionally had to contend with torn-up roads, construction cones and deep ditches while the more significant tasks were being done.

The widening has been in the works for five years as a method of dealing with traffic coming off the 55 Freeway, which often comes to a crawl before the freeway ends at 19th Street.

Larger-scale alternatives have been proposed and studied, like constructing a bypass tunnel extending the 55 Freeway to Newport Beach, but they are predicted to be costly and require years of planning and construction.