Cities to Tackle North County I-5 Congestion

State transportation officials are working with six area cities on a plan to relieve congestion on a portion of the Santa Ana Freeway that cuts through northern Orange County and southeast Los Angeles County.

The California Department of Transportation has chosen a Tustin-based engineering firm--De Leuw, Cather & Co.--to study how best to ease congestion on the traffic-choked Santa Ana Freeway north of the Riverside Freeway into downtown Los Angeles.

It is a 9-mile stretch of the Santa Ana Freeway, from the Riverside Freeway in northern Orange County to the San Gabriel River Freeway, that is to be improved first, said Dottie Odell, a Caltrans administrator.

The stretch, a major commuting route for Orange County residents bound for jobs in downtown Los Angeles, currently has three lanes in each direction and is among the most congested freeways in the nation.

But it will become an even tighter bottleneck by the late 1990s, when the Santa Ana Freeway to the south is scheduled to be widened to at least 10 lanes as part of an ambitious project now under way in Orange County. The Santa Ana Freeway north of the San Gabriel River Freeway in Los Angeles County was expanded to eight lanes in the mid-1980s, according to Caltrans.

The study will consider adding more lanes--both standard and car-pool--as well as an elevated roadway for buses, Odell said. If all goes well, construction could be completed by the late 1990s, she said.

But Odell said Caltrans must first secure the blessing of six cities bisected by the freeway that have formed a consortium to review proposed improvements.

Last Tuesday, La Mirada became the last of the six cities to join the consortium. The others are Commerce, Downey, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs and Buena Park, the only Orange County city. The consortium will have its first formal meeting later this month, said Norwalk City Manager Richard Powers, who organized the group.

Each city has contributed $5,000 to the consortium. The money will be used to pay for such things as engineering and lobbying services, Powers said.

Consortium officials agree that improvements are needed along the aging stretch of freeway, but they say the work must be done without widening the freeway beyond its current boundaries. From Buena Park to Downey, homes, restaurants, car dealerships and industrial buildings press close to the freeway.

Past Caltrans proposals envisioned widening the freeway to as many as 12 lanes through the area, Powers said. Such a widening would have displaced numerous residents and businesses along the freeway.

“It would have devastated the economic base of at least Norwalk, La Mirada and Santa Fe Springs,” Powers said. “Our main concern is not disrupting what’s existing in the cities today.”

In Norwalk, a freeway widening could threaten a new Sheraton hotel, which opened last year. It could displace already completed and planned commercial redevelopment projects in La Mirada, and a Santa Fe Springs auto mall. A freeway widening could also cut into Buena Park’s auto row, officials said.

“We obviously can’t impact our residential areas and our key downtown retail areas” with such an expansion, Buena Park City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said.

Local officials recall the loss of private property in the 1970s to make way for the Century Freeway, which is currently under construction from Los Angeles International Airport to Norwalk. More than 340 homes and apartments were razed in Downey alone.

“We’ve had enough houses displaced in Downey already,” said Downey Councilman Robert G. Cormack, who is one of his city’s representatives to the consortium.

Local opposition to widening the freeway beyond its boundaries helped stall previous plans to improve traffic flow on the freeway, Powers said.

The last such effort was a 1984 study that proposed expanding the freeway to as many as 12 lanes, a Caltrans spokesman said.

Currently, 168,000 to 188,000 cars a day travel the Santa Ana Freeway between the San Gabriel River and Riverside freeways, Caltrans senior planner Daniel Kopulsky said. By 2010, traffic is projected to increase to 280,000 trips a day.

The northbound lanes are congested about two hours every day, while the southbound lanes are clogged for about an hour each afternoon, Kopulsky said. To help alleviate congestion, motorists are permitted to drive on the southbound shoulder during rush hour.

If two lanes were added, the stretch of freeway would be able to handle the current level of traffic, Kopulsky said.

Odell said the study would determine how many lanes could be added without exceeding current freeway boundaries. The study will also pinpoint the costs of the various alternatives to aid traffic flow on the freeway. The study and an accompanying environmental impact report are scheduled to be completed by December, 1994, Odell said.

Although Caltrans is primarily concerned with moving more cars through the corridor, local officials also want improvements to the on-ramps, off-ramps and freeway bridges that create traffic congestion on local streets.