A Crushing Blow to Drivers : Freeways: Ramp closure makes the morning commute through the nation’s fifth-busiest intersection a nightmare. Two accidents played a part in the slowdown.

The bumping, screeching and stalling of cars through the “Orange Crush” freeway interchange reached a new pitch Monday when a key ramp linking the northbound Santa Ana Freeway to the westbound Garden Grove was closed until 1995.

“People were not ready for it,” CHP spokeswoman Angel Johnson said, “and we did have a couple of accidents.”

Although the ramp closure had been expected as part of a series of detours planned while the intersection--the fifth-busiest in the nation--is rebuilt, Johnson said Caltrans had agreed to leave the ramp open until after Monday morning’s rush hour.

“Somehow, the information was not passed down to the construction contractor,” the CHP spokeswoman said. “Maybe people were not expecting it, so they were not taking an alternate route.”

Traffic through the intersection, which connects the Santa Ana, Orange, and Garden Grove freeways, stalled from about 6 to 9 a.m., Johnson said.

“I was concerned,” Caltrans deputy district director Barry Rabbitt said after watching the traffic jam. But he added that the trouble might have been caused by the two traffic accidents that closed a couple of freeway lanes.

“We have no knowledge whatsoever of what the causes of the accidents were; whether they were coincidental,” Rabbitt said. “It would have been congested even if there were no closure.”

The CHP said Monday’s traffic snarls were worse than those experienced last November, when the Garden Grove Freeway eastbound connector to the southbound Santa Ana Freeway was closed.

Because of the traffic accidents, Caltrans officials said they would not know until later this week how the traffic flow was adjusting to the detour.

But the Monday evening commute past the closed interchange was much smoother, according to CHP spokesman Mel Baker. Monday night is generally a heavy traffic night, but many returning drivers were prepared to take alternate routes, he said. And this morning should be better, he predicted, because, “the same people are out there at the same time.”

In the meantime, technicians were out in the field adjusting traffic signals and making other minor fixes to help motorists through the alternate routes.

“No matter how long you put signs up in advance to tell motorists it’s coming, a lot of them forget,” Rabbitt said. “After a couple of weeks, motorists find other routes. They are very resourceful and adjust their travel habits accordingly.”

The traffic officials have recommended that northbound commuters on the Santa Ana Freeway take the Costa Mesa Freeway north to where it meets the Garden Grove Freeway. Another alternative, they said, is to go past the “Orange Crush” interchange to the Chapman Avenue exit, go right and enter the southbound entrance ramp to the Orange Freeway, which feeds into the westbound Garden Grove Freeway.

“All you have to do is follow the signs,” said Tom Buchanan, Caltrans resident engineer. He added that a new entrance ramp has been constructed from Chapman Avenue to the Orange Freeway, traffic signals have been adjusted, and the street has been re-striped to speed the flow through the detour.

Caltrans officials are not recommending that commuters use the Santa Ana Freeway exits just south of the interchange because the roadways may take them into residential neighborhoods in northwest Santa Ana.

Residents in that area already have complained about the onslaught of traffic--particularly on Santa Clara Avenue--caused by commuters trying to avoid the “Orange Crush” detours.

Blair O’Callaghan, a member of the Floral Park Traffic Committee that formed to solve the traffic problem in the neighborhood, said there had been no noticeable increase in traffic Monday.

But he said that in November, when the first connector ramp was closed, it took only a couple of days before commuters discovered the shortcut through their neighborhood.

“Caltrans has not done us any favors in this neighborhood,” O’Callaghan said. “It takes a couple of days, and then it goes way up, and then levels off a little bit.”

City officials in Orange and Santa Ana said they did not receive complaints from residents stemming from the latest freeway closure.

Meanwhile, another facet of the reconstruction program gets under way next Monday when pile driving begins at the Bristol Street ramp of the Santa Ana Freeway.