Inaction Is Jeopardizing Lives of Many : It’s Tragic That No Governmental Body Will Take Responsibility for Bridges’ Safety

One teen-ager already has been killed and others seriously injured on the Santa Clara Avenue bridge over the Costa Mesa Freeway. On another bridge over that freeway at nearby Fairhaven Avenue, the same unsafe conditions exist: a steep roadway, no street lights or warning signs, no posted speed limits, lots of traffic. Yet children gather for school buses at the bases of both bridges. Though they probably shouldn’t, they also skateboard and ride bikes there.

Donald Fife, the father of the 13-year-old boy who was killed while skateboarding on the Santa Clara overpass 3 1/2 years ago, has made a crusade of trying to get the bridges made safer for children and motorists. It hasn’t been an easy task. None of the jurisdictions involved--the California Department of Transportation, Orange County or the cities of Tustin, Santa Ana and Orange--is taking responsibility for even the most elementary of safety measures on the bridges, such as the posting of warning signs. Caltrans says it turned the task over to the local jurisdictions after the bridges were built nearly 30 years ago. But the county says it knows of no such agreement. And the cities involved have done nothing.

Meanwhile, children are in danger every day. Because of pressure from Fife and other local residents, on Monday all of the parties finally will meet to talk about what can be done to expedite improvements on the bridges.

This meeting could be one more occasion to cluck and complain about the situation. Or the participants could take the occasion to sweep away the red tape and find a way to install at least minimal safety measures on the bridges. There can be no good excuse for not posting speed signs or installing lighting, for example. It shouldn’t take an act of the Legislature either to put in wider pedestrian walkways, higher railings or speed bumps.

However it is done, the jurisdictions must reach an agreement immediately on interim safety measures.