OCTC Revives Widening Issue : Laguna Canyon Road Vote to Be Appealed

The Orange County Transportation Commission on Monday jumped into the 18-year-old fray over Laguna Canyon Road by voting unanimously to ask the California Coastal Commission to overturn a decision last month that stopped the state from widening the controversial highway.

If the appeal is unsuccessful, the county commission said it wants to hand over to Laguna Beach the 2 1/2-mile stretch of road between El Toro Road and Coast Highway. That would free up money budgeted to widen the road for other projects.

The county commission decided to inject itself for the first time as a key player in the road-widening battle between the city and the state to free up $11 million frozen while the dispute has raged on, said Stan Oftelie, executive director of the Transportation Commission.

Other Projects

“If in fact that project is not going to be built, then OCTC will work with Caltrans somewhere else,” most likely to widen the interchange of the Santa Ana and Costa Mesa freeways, Oftelie said. He said county Supervisor Thomas F. Riley “suggested, and the commission agreed, that we should take more of a lead role.”

Riley, a member of the OCTC, recommended Monday that the county commission move immediately to appeal the Coastal Commission vote. He said OCTC staff should report back by the end of April on meetings with the city of Laguna Beach and Caltrans officials if a compromise can be worked out.

But Laguna Beach Councilwoman Lida Campbell Lenney accused Riley of “riding roughshod over the city.” She called any move to turn the road over to Laguna Beach “impossible.”

“The city doesn’t see any way possible to handle the responsibility,” she said.

Opponents of the widening, including the city, say it would bring too many people through the pristine canyon and could lead to more development. The Irvine Co., which owns much of the canyon, already has drawn up development plans contingent on road widening to support more traffic.

Commission and Caltrans officials maintain that the two-lane road from El Toro Road to Canyon Acres Drive is unsafe and that an additional lane in each direction and realignment of a large curve in the road called “Big Bend” are needed.

“This is one of the most dangerous roads in the state,” Riley said after the hearing. “We have spent a long time trying to resolve this problem. We need to pursue an answer as soon as possible.”

Oftelie said 33 suits have been filed against the state in the past five years over accidents allegedly caused by faulty highway design along the stretch of road that includes Big Bend.

“I don’t know how much pending liability that is, but it could be the most-litigated roadway in California,” he said. Oftelie said, however, that he could not supply lawsuit statistics on any other comparable road.

Lenney argued that “safety is a smoke screen.”

“We don’t believe it is the real issue, which is capacity. A number of developers have proposals along that road,” she said.

Of 36 traffic fatalities on Laguna Canyon Road in the past 11 years, three occurred at Big Bend, she said.

“Big Bend is a safer part of the road than the wide, straight points,” Lenney said.

The widening project appeared to die last month when the Coastal Commission voted 6 to 5 to reject Caltrans’ proposal. The commission suggested that city officials work with Caltrans to agree on safety measures.

But without the widening, Laguna Canyon Road could not meet state highway safety standards, said Albert Miranda, Caltrans spokesman in Orange County.

The Transportation Commission is ready “right now” to file an application with the Coastal Commission for another hearing on Laguna Canyon Road, Oftelie said. The Coastal Commission is required by state law to meet within six months of receiving the request to hear the appeal, he said.

For the state to hand over the road with its maintenance and legal costs to Laguna Beach, the county Transportation Commission would have to get a bill introduced into the state Legislature allowing the action, Oftelie said.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), who supports widening the road, would consider adding such an amendment to a state bill if the commission asked her, said Julie Froeberg, a Bergeson aide.

“But quite frankly, we’re hoping that the Coastal Commission will reconsider and vote to support the project,” Froeberg said.