IRVINE : Petitions Offered for Yale Avenue Bridges

County officials this week were examing petitions bearing the signatures of more than 7,000 residents who are urging the construction of two vehicular bridges on Yale Avenue, a controversial proposal for more than a decade.

At issue is whether the two missing links will be provided to make Yale a continuous north-south thoroughfare in Irvine, relieving traffic pressure on Culver Drive and Jeffrey Road.

The petitions were filed by Yale Action, a group headed by Lowell Johnson, former Irvine transportation and planning commissioner.

The group seeks to force City Council approval, or a public vote on the plan, to build the two bridges. One would be constructed over the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad tracks and connect the six El Camino Real neighborhoods with Woodbridge. The other would cross the San Diego Freeway and link Woodbridge to University Park.

Smaller versions of both bridges, limited to pedestrians, bicycles and emergency vehicles, are in place.

Johnson said his group would like to see a scaled-back version of the bridges, included in the city’s first general plan.

“The city’s original plan called for four lanes on each bridge, two in each direction,” said Johnson, who lives in the Ranch neighborhood. “We are asking for two lanes, one in each direction.”

Those two vehicular lanes on each bridge would flare out to four lanes, two in each direction, at each end of the overpass, according to the Yale Action petition. Johnson and other proponents of the plan claim that the bridges would give motorists an option for north-south traffic and would ease pressure on Jeffrey Road and Culver Drive.

Opponents of the plan, who have included Mayor Larry Agran and Councilman Edward A. Dornan, believe that a continuous Yale Avenue would mean more traffic and pollution in nearby neighborhoods.

The bridge proposal has divided city constituencies for 12 years, according to City Manager Paul Brady Jr.

In 1987, a public hearing on the proposed bridges had to be moved to larger quarters when about 700 residents appeared, Councilwoman Sally Anne Sheridan said.

The city is studying the environmental impacts of expanded bridges, the third such study in eight years.

If the petition is ruled valid, the proposal will be submitted to the City Council, which could either adopt the plan or call for a special election. Lacey predicted that the issue would be placed on the Jan. 23 council agenda.