Taking the Right Road on Transit

Life in urban Orange County has become too complicated for any one community to go it alone. Many of Orange County’s problems are countywide in nature, and how well they are solved will depend greatly on how the entire county reacts to them.

There are two such projects, one pertaining to putting emergency call boxes on the county’s freeways and the other on converting Beach Boulevard into a “superstreet,” that are now before the cities for local approval. Both deserve speedy action and are worthy of solid city support.

The superstreet involves eight cities along the 19-mile conversion route in a project that calls for widening the boulevard, installing bus turnouts, and creating intersection changes and crossovers at three major intersections--all designed to move traffic faster and more efficiently.

Westminster last Tuesday became the first city along the boulevard to approve the $24-million project.

And last Monday the Orange County Transportation Commission urged city officials to authorize as quickly as possible the creation of a countywide authority to set up an emergency call box system on the county’s freeways. In order to take advantage of the new state law that allows the special authority to levy a $1-per-year fee on vehicle registrations to pay for the installation and maintenance of the freeway phones, a majority of the county’s 26 cities representing a majority of the county’s population must give their approval.

The demand and need for the emergency call boxes is beyond question. They have proven their lifesaving value and security for stranded motorists in two decades of use on Los Angeles County freeways. And now, thanks to legislation by Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), there is a way to finance the freeway phone network.

With the prompt municipal support and countywide teamwork the projects deserve, freeway call boxes, and superstreets that help unclog the county’s major arteries, could soon become realities for county motorists.