Dana Point Couplet to Open for Traffic Soon

The Dana Point couplet--which will provide two one-way thoroughfares through almost a mile of the community’s business district--will be open for traffic before the week is out, a full month ahead of schedule, an Orange County official said Monday.

The new arrangement will carry northbound traffic on Coast Highway and southbound vehicles on Del Prado Avenue between Street of the Blue Lantern and Street of the Copper Lantern.

“If all goes well with hooking up and coordinating the (three) new traffic signals, traffic might start using the couplet sometime late Thursday afternoon,” said Wendell L. Hartman, construction manager for the county’s Environmental Management Agency.

He added that the Silveri Construction Co., of Santa Ana, completed the $1.17-million project before its mid-June contract deadline.

Dedication Set for Friday

A dedication ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Del Prado and Street of the Golden Lantern, with Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, Dana Point Chamber of Commerce President Edward Conway and others attending.

Conway said the project is expected to benefit business district merchants, particularly those on Del Prado, by providing more parking space and a smoother and safer flow of traffic.

“It’s been a long time coming, and I was surprised at how quickly the job was done,” he said. “It will provide more exposure for merchants and will help in the development of Del Prado,” which now has only scattered buildings among many vacant lots.

New signal lights will operate at Coast Highway and Copper Lantern, Coast Highway and Blue Lantern and Del Prado and Golden Lantern. At present, only one light exists--at Coast Highway and Golden Lantern--to control the estimated 38,000 vehicles that pass through the community each day.

Del Prado and Coast Highway each will have three traffic lanes, parking and bicycle lanes, sidewalks and gutters.

MP, Los Angeles Times