MISSION VIEJO : Parkway Extension Opens Sans Ribbons

There were no balloons, beauty queens or ribbon-cuttings at the long-awaited opening of the Alicia Parkway extension Tuesday.

Officials merely turned on the traffic signals on Olympiad Road and Alicia Parkway, removed traffic barriers and departed, some not even waiting for the first of 24,000 motorists who are eventually expected to use the street extension on a daily basis.

“With the bad weather that’s coming up, we felt the best option was not to delay the opening for a ribbon-cutting,” said Shirley Land, city transportation engineer.

The public has waited through at least two years of delays for the connection to open. The Alicia Parkway extension will provide a second route for Rancho Santa Margarita residents, who up to now have been funneled down Santa Margarita Parkway to heavily traveled El Toro Road.

Now commuters can turn down Alicia Parkway and follow the road through to Interstate 5.

The opening will also take the pressure off Mission Viejo side streets used as shortcuts to the freeway by Rancho Santa Margarita residents, Land said.

Construction was held up by a development contract between the city and the Mission Viejo Co., which built the extension as part of a county master plan for improving traffic circulation in South County.

The agreement tied the completion of Alicia Parkway to the finish of construction on the nearby Oso Parkway extension. But when work on Oso Parkway was seriously delayed, the Mission Viejo City Council agreed last year to rewrite the pact, allowing completion of Alicia Parkway.

The Oso Parkway extension is scheduled to open some time this summer, although the rains could delay the project.