Buena Park / Westminster : “Super Street” Meetings Set Wednesday, Thursday

A proposal to turn Beach Boulevard into Orange County’s first “Super Street” will be aired this week at a pair of open houses in Buena Park and Westminster.

The first is Wednesday at the Buena Park Senior Center, 8150 Knott Ave., the second Thursday at the Westminster Community Center, 8200 Westminster Ave. Both will be from 3 to 8 p.m.

County transportation officials will present aerial photographs with overlays of all traffic-flow improvements being considered. Also, construction consultants will be on hand to explain the effects on particular businesses and residences adjacent to the boulevard.

The Super Street proposal, a cooperative effort of the Orange County Transportation Commission, Caltrans and the cities involved, calls for conversion of Beach Boulevard into a limited access highway. Motorists would be able to travel the 19 1/2-mile boulevard through nine communities from Imperial Highway in Brea to Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach--without stopping.

The proposal calls for the building of four “fly-over” bridges at the street’s busiest intersections. Officials said the conversion would cost $40 million, with the “fly-overs” tagged at $2.5 million to $5 million each.

Other plans call for the synchronizing of traffic signals, elimination of street parking, construction of bus turnout lanes, limiting driveways and smaller streets opening onto the boulevard and building raised median dividers.