Corona del Mar : Caltrans Agrees to Study E. Coast Highway Safety

In response to complaints by residents and citizens’ groups about the hazards of crossing East Coast Highway, the California Department of Transportation has agreed to initiate a three-week study into accidents on a 1 1/2-mile stretch of the road.

David Paine, co-chairman of Citizens for Safe Crosswalks, said pedestrians are in danger when crossing the highway between MacArthur Boulevard and Poppy Avenue because drivers exceed the 35 m.p.h. speed limit and because crosswalks are poorly marked.

Royal Radtke, Corona del Mar chamber of commerce vice president, said speeding is the primary cause of pedestrian accidents along the highway. In addition to lowering the speed limit, Radtke suggested moving crosswalks to different areas and adding more stoplights to remedy the problem.

Caltrans district traffic engineer Chuck Boyer said speeding probably was not a factor in the 22 reported pedestrian accidents on the highway in Corona del Mar between 1981 and 1985. He attributed many of the accidents to traffic law violations by drivers and pedestrians and not to “roadway deficiencies.”

The City of Newport Beach has taken numerous measures in attempting to improve safety on the highway, city traffic engineer Richard Edmonston said.

“There has been a fair amount of effort over the years to address the problem,” Edmonston said. The city suggested that Caltrans install overhead pedestrian crossing signs and advanced warning signs with flashing yellow lights, but these suggestions were turned down, Edmonston said.

Boyer said the options would be taken into consideration in the study. He said Caltrans rejected the suggestion for flashing yellow lights at crossings because it gave pedestrians a false sense of security.

The city cannot make any improvements on the state highway without the approval of Caltrans, and it is wary of doing any work on the highway because of a lawsuit that stemmed from a 1984 accident.

In that suit, Newport Beach was found liable for an accident because it had been issued a permit by Caltrans to paint high-visibility diagonal lines on a crosswalk area. Five days before the painting, a pedestrian was hit in the crosswalk and the city was held responsible because it was going to do the work.