Signs Could Cut Short Commuter Shortcuts : Fullerton Orders Traffic Controls in Response to Complaints of Heavy Residential Area Traffic

The city of Fullerton will install 25 new stop signs in high-traffic residential areas to discourage commuters from taking shortcuts through them.

The move, applauded by several hundred residents during two hearings of the city Transportation and Circulation Commission this week, came after more than nine hours of public comment on traffic problems throughout the city.

“We’ve been begging for this for three or four years,” said Judi Wilson, a 9-year resident of Valley View Drive.

Her street is used as a shortcut by commuters avoiding Bastanchury Road between Euclid Street and Harbor Boulevard.

‘They Could Care Less’

“Something needs to be done,” she said. “These people just drive by our beautiful residential neighborhood and they could care less that they are going 50 m.p.h.”

Wilson, 43, a real-estate saleswoman, praised the decision to install signs but said she hopes the city continues to monitor the area.

In addition to installing signs, the city plans to improve major arterials such as Bastanchury Road and Euclid Street to coax impatient motorists back onto them.

Still, said city traffic engineer Paul Smith, “I don’t believe we can ever eliminate 100%” of the commuter traffic in neighborhoods. “We try to get it down to something that is acceptable.”

The commission held the two hearings, each geared to a separate area of the city, to consider solutions offered by residents and by an independent traffic consultant hired last year after frequent complaints.

The problem, one increasingly being faced by all Southern California cities, is too much traffic on streets not designed for it, Smith said. Fullerton’s additional problem is that some arterial roadways, such as Rosecrans Avenue and Gilbert Street, end or wind through residential areas once they enter the city, he said.

Two Key Areas

The two areas in Fullerton most affected by commuter traffic are bounded roughly by Bastanchury Road, Malvern Avenue, Euclid Street and Harbor Boulevard; and Imperial Highway, Euclid and Bastanchury.

For some residents of those areas, the stop signs were a victory. But others called for more drastic solutions.

Judy Guarienti, an 11-year resident of Lake View Drive, said she wants her street blocked off or made into a one-way street.

The traffic consultant who studied the area had recommended making Lake View Drive a one-way street for northbound traffic between Clarion and Hermosa drives to discourage commuters from using it as a shortcut between Euclid and Imperial. Commissioners unanimously rejected the idea after dozens of residents from nearby streets complained that those commuters would start using their streets instead.

Wendy Florin, a resident of Las Palmas Drive, helped collect 575 signatures against the idea.

“When this many people speak in opposition to the proposal, I think I have to listen,” commissioner Justin Farmer said.

All commissioners agreed that more effective solutions need to be found and promised to study the area once improvements to Euclid and Bastanchury are in place. Improvements to those streets are in the design phase and should be completed in about three years, Smith said.

“Our solution has to be to find a way to keep traffic from going in (to residential areas) in the first place,” Commissioner John Kelly said. For now, he said, the only solution seems to be adding stop signs and improving arterial streets.

“It’s a shame because we’re only putting on a Band-Aid,” he said.