Irvine Officials Deny Yale Bridges Would Burden Central Area

Construction of two vehicle overpasses on Yale Avenue will not significantly increase traffic in Irvine’s central residential neighborhoods, as predicted by opponents, city officials contended Tuesday night.

At a meeting that drew more than 800 residents, G. Brent Muchow, Irvine’s director of public works, said the proposal to build the two-lane overpasses and make Yale a continuous north-south thoroughfare will not turn the street into a “major commuter throughway.”

With the overpasses--one at the Santa Fe Railroad tracks and the other at the San Diego Freeway--Yale would become a roadway used by local residents and police and fire units, not outsiders commuting from business parks in the John Wayne Airport area to south Orange County, Muchow said.

Traffic Increase Warned

Opponents, however, warned that the Yale overpasses would be a tempting alternative for commuters seeking to avoid heavily traveled Culver Drive and Jeffrey Road, the major north-south arteries through residential Irvine. Those living along or near Yale in the villages of Woodbridge, Deerfield and El Camino Real would have a dramatic increase in traffic, noise and pollution, opponents said.

“We are talking about destroying people’s lives,” said Charles Dreyfuss, founder of CAUTION (Citizens Against Unsafe Traffic in Our Neighborhoods).

Dreyfuss has said the overpass battle is not a growth issue, but one that involves “quality of life.”

In Irvine, like much of central and south Orange County, traffic and how to cope with it has become a pivotal, emotional debate.

Council members said that in the days leading up to Tuesday’s meeting, they were flooded with letters and calls both for and against the overpass project.

Move to Bigger Quarters

In an unprecedented action, the city moved the site of Tuesday’s meeting from City Hall to the cafeteria at the Fluor Corporation in the Park Place business complex to accommodate the big turnout.

Several hundred opponents wore bright yellow stickers shaped like street signs and imprinted with CAUTION. Proponents, particularly Woodbridge residents, carried signs that read: “Free South Woodbridge,” a show of support for the 405 Freeway overpass.

Although city officials said the overpasses would meet city safety standards and would carry allowable traffic limits, Councilman Ed Dornan said the “psychological impact” on residents has not been considered.

The two overpasses and completing Yale Avenue have been a part of Irvine’s General Plan since the city incorporated in 1967. In July, Mayor Larry Agran and Dornan wanted to scrap the project. But council members C. David Baker, Ray Catalano and Sally Anne Miller voted to table the proposal for further study.

Earlier this year, a vehicular overcrossing at Yale and the Santa Ana Freeway was opened, linking Northwood and the Heritage Park area south the freeway.

To continue Yale south through the heart of residential Irvine to University Park, vehicular overpasses at the Santa Fe Railroad tracks and the San Diego Freeway would be required. Overpasses at both places are restricted to pedestrians and bicyclists at present.

The city’s phenomenal growth--estimated at 1,000 residents a month in the past year--has made travel between the village-style neighborhoods increasingly difficult on Jeffrey and Culver--the city’s main north-south thoroughfares for residents.

City officials believe that the overpasses and extension would also make it easier for police and fire units to respond to emergencies in the densely built and sometimes hard-to-reach neighborhoods.

The two overpasses would cost an estimated $2.5 million. Assistant City Manager Paul Brady said the money--largely the city’s share of state and federal gas tax revenues--is in place to build the railroad overpass. No money has been appropriated for the San Diego Freeway overcrossing.

Brady said if the council votes against the overpasses, “it would not be the end of the world.” He said plans to widen and therefore improve traffic flows on Culver, Jeffrey and Harvard Avenue, another north-south conduit on the city’s west side, are being prepared.

Because of the intense debate, Councilwoman Miller said last week that the issue should probably be put to a citywide vote.