Riverside Fwy. Expected to Be Hell on Wheels

Think the Riverside Freeway is bad now? Wait until January.

Even more gridlock is expected next month, when construction is scheduled to begin on the first in a series of traffic-improvement projects on what is already one of Southern California’s most congested freeways.

The projects, intended to relieve the snarl on the freeway and surrounding surface streets, include widening of the Riverside Freeway and several overpasses along with the installation of meters to regulate traffic flow on the on-ramps. The improvements are expected to continue into early 1993 and cost about $40 million.

For the time being, residents and transportation officials are plotting strategies to manage the excess tie-ups, but it is unclear how bad the traffic will get. The freeway also may be closed on some nights.

“It’s definitely going to get worse before it gets better,” said Chris Perez, who lives in Corona. “It has to. There’s no way to avoid it.”

Every day, more than 200,000 vehicles use the Riverside Freeway as it winds its way through the Santa Ana Canyon. What makes the gridlock so frustrating is that there are few alternatives routes, and commuters who live in less-expensive housing in the Inland Empire are ensnarled in huge traffic jams as they try to get to their jobs in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Caltrans recently hired a public relations firm to spread the word about construction and urge residents to car-pool. But in Corona, a 272-space lot on Grand Boulevard often fills up by 5 a.m., and nearby residents have complained that commuters simply hog spaces in front of their homes.

One resident leases a spot in his driveway to a commuter who car-pools to work in Fountain Valley.

The heavy construction in Corona will get under way just after the holidays, with overpasses at Maple Street, Lincoln Avenue and Smith Avenue being widened to two lanes in each direction.

Construction also will begin sometime later in January on a new overpass at Promenade Avenue at the east end of Corona. The $12.7-million project is expected to be completed in June, 1992.

In April, Caltrans and the Riverside County Transportation Commission will start work on an $8.6-million median widening from Magnolia Avenue in Riverside to Main Street in Corona to make room for a car-pool lane in each direction. In addition, auxiliary lanes in each direction will be constructed from Interstate 15 to McKinley Street in Corona.

By summer, Caltrans is expected to have in place meters at all entrance ramps from Van Buren Boulevard in Riverside to Green River Drive near west Corona. That project is expected to cost $1.8 million.

Construction also is scheduled to begin on a $17-million median widening from Main Street to the Riverside and Orange county line. The project calls for one car-pool lane in each direction from Main Street to the Corona Expressway, and two in each direction from the Corona Expressway west to the Orange County line.

It has yet to be determined when Orange County will begin construction on its leg of the freeway widening. A private developer, CRSS Inc., is negotiating with state transportation officials on a plan to build two toll lanes in each direction from the Orange County line to the Costa Mesa or Orange freeways.

Under the proposal, those who don’t car-pool would be charged a toll, said Stan Oftelie, executive director of the Orange County Transportation Commission. He added that CRSS is expected to complete negotiations later this month and would begin construction next year.

Meanwhile, officials at Caltrans, the Riverside County Transportation Commission and the city of Corona have been trying to come up with ways to keep delays to a minimum during the Riverside County construction.

Caltrans plans to keep all freeway lanes open during much of the construction but reduce their width from 12 feet to 11 feet. Corona officials say that they also plan to keep lanes open on the bridge overpasses.

But the bridge construction could force the closure of the freeway on some nights. Under a proposal by the contractor, the freeway would be closed for about 40 nights from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., and traffic would be rerouted on the streets of Corona, said Joseph R. Palencia, the city’s public works director.

Caltrans also plans to erect “gawk screens” to prevent commuters from slowing to see the construction. Even so, Caltrans officials say commuters should allow themselves extra time.

A search is under way for more park-and-ride lots, in expectation of more car-poolers once construction begins. New lots also are planned in Riverside and Moreno Valley.

State and county transportation officials also are proposing a new 400-to-600-space site between El Sobrante Road and Interstate 15 near Magnolia Avenue in Corona. Still, because of strict Caltrans guidelines on the purchase of property or development of rights of way, the lot wouldn’t be ready for at least a year.

Though there is considerable uncertainty over how bad traffic will become, some are predicting that commuters will eventually get used to it. According to Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas Inc., an Orange-based consultant and a freeway project designer, traffic will be worse for the first few weeks, then get back to normal, said Marilyn Williams, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County Transportation Commission.

“The construction just tends to slow it down,” Williams said. “We feel it will back off once they get accustomed to that activity. . . . It’s going to take a little adjustment.”

Still, some residents are preparing for the worst.

“It’s just going to be a big mess around here,” said Doug Fredericksen, who lives in Corona in the community of Creste Verde. “It’s going to be much, much worse.”

Fredericksen, who commutes to various spots in Orange County as part of a construction business, said he plans to leave at 4 a.m., half an hour earlier than usual. “People here are used to leaving by 4:30 a.m.,” he said. “By 5 a.m., it’s already bumper to bumper.”

Chris Perez, chairman of Corona’s Citizens for Traffic Solutions, plans to delay his start so that he can make his trek to the Arco building in downtown Los Angeles after 8 a.m., when the gridlock has subsided.

Perez’s group also plans to help create a “car-pool” newsletter that will attempt to team Corona commuters.

Even those who don’t commute fear worse snarls on Corona streets, some of which are already jammed by commuters taking shortcuts through the city and waiting to get on the freeway. Adrienne Potter doesn’t even get on the freeway in the morning, but she still has to wait in surface road traffic after dropping her children off at school less than three miles away. Potter has helped formed a political action group to fight traffic and growth in Corona and has videotaped traffic snarls set to funeral music to show city officials.

The construction, she said, will make things even tougher to bear for a while.

“It’s like we’re all waiting for the dam to break,” she said. “When it breaks, we’ll have to see how we can swim.”

Scheduled construction on the Riverside Freeway:

1) January 1991: Bridge-widening construction begins at Maple Street, Lincoln Avenue and Smith Avenue. A new overpass will be built on Promenade Avenue at the east end of Corona.

2) April: Construction scheduled to begin on car-pool lanes in each direction from Magnolia Avenue in Riverside to Main Street in Corona, and auxiliary lanes in each direction from McKinley Avenue to Interstate 15.

3a) Summer: Construction scheduled to begin on a car-pool lane in each direction from Main Street in Corona to the Corona Expressway (71).

3b) Summer: Construction scheduled to begin on two car-pool lanes in each direction from the Corona Expressway to the Riverside and Orange county line. Soundwalls also will be constructed at various locations from Magnolia Street in Riverside to the county line.

4) Negotiations are continuing between a private firm and Caltrans to construct two toll lanes in each direction from the county line to the Costa Mesa or Orange freeway. No construction date has been set, but work is expected to being sometime in 1991.

Source: Caltrans