ROADS: Project : Road Project to Tie Up Traffic Near Airport

On an average day, more than 27,000 vehicles use Campus Drive near John Wayne Airport.

But starting Monday, airport officials predicted, traffic there will be anything but average. Officials foresee major rush-hour tie-ups.

That’s the day that extensive road widening work will begin, adding two lanes to the four-lane thoroughfare between MacArthur Boulevard and Bristol Street. The new lanes will cover a strip of what is now Airport Way South and the median between Airport Way and Campus Drive.

Other Route Recommended

In addition, the northbound entrance to the airport from Campus Drive will be closed, as drivers will not be able to turn left there from Campus. However, drivers traveling south will still be able to turn right at that entrance.

For two to four months, then, officials said, the only other entrance to the airport will be from MacArthur Boulevard.

Officials recommend that drivers use Birch Street as an alternative route.

Because Campus Drive serves many airport-area businesses, airport officials earlier this year met with local business owners to discuss the project’s effect on them and ways to notify the public that their businesses would remain accessible.

Aviation firms on Airport Way South alongside Campus Drive will remain open; access will be available on driveways through the construction area, officials said.

The southbound exit from the existing passenger terminal to Campus Drive will also remain open.

Work on the $3.5-million project actually began with the relocation of utility lines in May. The project is expected to be completed in March, 1990.

The project also includes widening the Campus Drive bridge over the Corona del Mar Freeway. Work to widen Campus Drive at the MacArthur Boulevard intersection is scheduled to begin in mid to late 1990, officials said.

The road-widening is part of the airport expansion program, the total cost of which is estimated at $310 million. That figure includes $50 million for a new passenger terminal and for new roadways, taxiways, aircraft aprons and parking garages.