COSTA MESA : Fair Has Incentives to Ease Traffic Load

With more than 500,000 people expected at this year’s Orange County Fair, traffic problems are a major concern.

Fair officials have been talking with the Costa Mesa Police Department, Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol to reduce traffic snarls, especially on the weekends, said fair spokeswoman Jill Lloyd.

The fair will open on July 11 and run through July 22.

This year for the first time, the fair has secured 800 parking spaces from the Automobile Club of Southern California, 3333 Fairview Road. From noon to midnight on the weekends, fair-goers will receive free rides on Orange County Transit District buses from that lot.

The fair is also offering an incentive to car-pool. Every car with four or more people parks free, Lloyd said. Otherwise, parking is $3 per car.

“We’re encouraging people to ride together, and that’s a difficult thing in Orange County because everybody wants to drive their own car,” she said.

In the event of overflow traffic, the fair will use the parking lots at Orange Coast College and Costa Mesa High School, as it has in the past.

The Orange County Transit District also is offering free bus rides to the fair on special routes. For more information on those routes, call (714) 636-7433.

To divert traffic from the Costa Mesa Freeway, Caltrans will install signs that will advise San Diego Freeway drivers to take the Fairview or Harbor exits. And throughout the fair, traffic advisories will be broadcast over the radio, Lloyd said.

“There have been improvements over the last two years, but the main thing is educating the public,” she said, adding that Costa Mesa streets get crowded easily when large events are in town.