Countywide : Holiday Crowds to Hit Roads, Beaches

Beaches and freeways were more crowded than usual for a Friday afternoon as county residents began the Memorial Day weekend, authorities said.

“There are a lot of workers out sick and a lot of kids out sick from school” at San Clemente’s beach Friday afternoon, lifeguard Steve Lashbrook said with a laugh.

He expected 15,000 people there each day this holiday weekend, even though weather forecasters were calling for partly cloudy skies today, Sunday and Monday.

The outlook is for partly cloudy skies over Orange County, along with light winds, said Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

“There’s going to be quite a bit of sun even though there will be some clouds,” Burback said.

He said high temperatures during the long weekend in the county will range from the upper 60s to middle 70s, with lows in the middle 50s to upper 60s.

The beach Friday “was much more crowded than usual. I suspect it’s because the weather’s been bad for so long that when the sun finally comes out, people come to the beach to take advantage of it,” Lashbrook said.

Lifeguard Eric Hill of Huntington Beach’s city beach also reported seeing many school-age faces in his territory Friday. Up to 50,000 people are expected daily there during the three-day break.

“I imagine there will probably be lots of people tonight having campfires,” Hill said.

Traffic on freeways was already congested about 2 p.m. Friday, California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Livingston said.

The CHP will be operating at maximum force from 6 p.m. Friday to midnight Monday to deal with the expected holiday crowd, Officer Bruce Lian said.

“We’ve got just about everybody working,” Lian said. “Because of the holiday traffic, a lot more people are going out to places.”

About 71,000 travelers went through John Wayne Airport last Memorial Day weekend, and officials there expect about the same this year.

The airport’s parking lot on Main Street between MacArthur Boulevard and Red Hill Avenue, usually reserved only for long-term parking, will be opened to all travelers this weekend, spokeswoman Maudette Ball said.

For Amtrak, the surge in holiday commuters usually begins about noon Friday and ends the same time Tuesday, spokesman Bruce Heard said.

“We’re going to be rolling every available car,” Heard said.

During the long weekend, many people like to take one-day trips in both directions of Southern California, he said.