Keep an Eye Out for Arrows as You Near the On-Ramp

Dear Street Smart:

Drivers proceeding eastbound on Edinger Avenue towards the Costa Mesa Freeway in Santa Ana would reasonably conclude that they need to be in the curb lane when nearing the freeway to access its southbound on-ramp.

This is not the case. The lane unexpectedly requires you to turn right onto Boyd Street, a minor road, just before the freeway. Freeway-bound drivers must quickly force their way into the middle lane, then quickly move back to the right lane after passing the side street, if they want to reach the ramp.

Why is this done, and what purpose does it serve, except to make it really difficult to reach the freeway?

Chauncey Benedict, Santa Ana

Santa Ana curtailed through traffic in that curbside lane about two years ago as a way to head off accidents that plagued the intersection of Edinger and Boyd, according to Al Mesch, the city’s associate traffic engineer.

Before the change, commuters making their way east in Edinger’s two innermost lanes encountered congestion near Boyd. No such congestion plagued the third lane because it ends at the freeway on-ramp.

As a result, cars in the third lane would zip along past their stalled commuter cousins just inches away. That is, they would zip along until they were hit broadside by cars turning left in front of them.

Those luckless people turning left would be sitting on the westside of Edinger, waiting for a break to turn onto Boyd. They would see two lanes of stalled traffic and assume that the coast was clear to cross the third lane as well.

“This is a classic type of accident,” Mesch said, explaining that it’s a problem that affects many places where a lane merges into a freeway on-ramp while congestion slows adjacent lanes.

The city has considered or tried alternatives to restricting the lane. For example, left turns were banned, but then motorists drove past the intersection and made turns further down Edinger into business driveways in order to double-back towards Boyd, Mesch said.

Eventually, the city hopes to extend the third lane past the freeway, like the other two lanes. That would equalize speed and volume of traffic, and the danger to motorists turning left at Boyd would be reduced.

The extension might happen in mid-1993, if Santa Ana and Caltrans give the go-ahead. In the meantime, you’ll have to keep an eye out for the arrows telling you to move over before you hit Boyd. But at least you won’t be hit by someone making a turn.

Dear Street Smart:

In Laguna Hills, the southbound side of Los Alisos Boulevard enlarges from three lanes to four lanes about 50 yards before it dead-ends into Paseo de Valencia. Three of the lanes are for turning left onto Paseo de Valencia, and the other one is for turning right.

The problem is that after you turn left onto Paseo de Valencia, less than 50 yards from the intersection, two of the lanes of left-turning traffic are forced into one, since the street itself has only two lanes at this point.

Even when you know the two lanes are going to merge, it is easy to see how an accident could occur. When a driver is not prepared for this, the risks of an accident are even greater.

The solution is simple. Los Alisos should remain three lanes at this intersection, with only two lanes for turning left and one for turning right. As it is now, no useful purpose is served by having three left-hand turn lanes.

Robin Duncan, Mission Viejo

Word from the county’s traffic engineering department is that there have been no reported accidents or problems with the way those three lanes merge into two. The third left-turn lane was added about a year ago to improve traffic circulation there.

“It’s working pretty well,” said county Traffic Engineer Ignacio Ochoa, basing his assessment on field reviews of the junction.

The work was part of an overall plan to improve traffic flow in the South County foothill area. With main roads such as Alicia Parkway becoming more congested, surface streets such as Los Alisos and Paseo de Valencia are becoming key alternatives to reaching new development south of Moulton Parkway.

As a result, reducing those three lanes back to two would mean fewer cars could move onto Paseo de Valencia. No doubt, drivers would complain about back-ups.

“One lane makes a substantial difference,” Ochoa said. “You’ll end up getting a queue. The faster you can process traffic through an intersection, the better.”

Ochoa added that there is considerably more room for traffic to merge than 50 feet, noting that distances are often deceiving to drivers. Signs and pavement markings also alert drivers to the impending merge, he said.

Dear Street Smart:

Along the southbound lanes of Coast Highway near Aliso Creek in South Laguna, there are three or four shallow cuts across the highway which cause severe jolts when you are traveling along at normal speeds.

These cuts are only two or three inches deep and could easily be filled in. I wonder why they aren’t? They are certainly no good for anyone’s car.

John Hartley, South Laguna

Relief from the bumps should be coming by June 15, according to Caltrans spokesman Steve Saville. The gas company has been replacing an old line out there. Work began in late January, and an end to the final phase is only about a week away.

When the work is finished, those gaps will be topped off with paving material. In fact, according to a Caltrans engineer for the area, the gaps may have already been filled once, and then the material settled. Settlement of that sort is normal, and workers always return in a few weeks add more material.

As an aside, the engineer added that state code does not allow gaps in the pavement deeper than 1 3/4 of an inch. Anything lower than that would have Caltrans moving immediately to fill the hole.