Newport Beach Area Closed Off by Heavy Traffic

Police were forced to close 30 square blocks of the beach area here Wednesday when Fourth of July traffic backed up for miles and celebrants spilled into the streets.

The crowds and traffic became too much to handle and officers gave up on trying to keep an official count.

“There’s a zillion,” Newport Beach police spokesman Tim Newman said. They were part of the hundreds of thousands who flocked to Orange County beaches under sparkling skies, snarling traffic along the coastline but producing no serious disturbances.

Numerous arrests were made in Newport Beach for minor offenses ranging from fireworks violations to fighting. The 30 blocks were closed at midafternoon and were not scheduled to be reopened until 3 a.m today.

“It’s jampacked,” said Don Chandler, watch commander for the Newport Beach Police Department. “It’s wall to wall people.”

By early afternoon, traffic into Newport Beach was snarled all the way back into Costa Mesa. And hours earlier, by 8 a.m., every parking place in town was full, and jostling for the ones that opened during the day got rough on occasion.

One woman, officers said, was brushed by a car driven by an irate driver as she stood in a parking place and tried to save it for someone else. Police responded to the call but no one was arrested.