HUNTINGTON BEACH : Street Barrier OKd for 6 More Months

The City Council voted this week to permit a temporary barricade to remain at Cascade Lane near the Westminster border for another six months.

The barricade is designed to prevent thousands of motorists from taking shortcuts through a residential neighborhood to McFadden Avenue and other major thoroughfares.

Officials installed the barricade in May for a 90-day trial program amid cheers from Cascade Lane residents. They had complained about cars speeding over lawns, damaging property and endangering their families.

However, residents on nearby residential streets have angrily attacked the plan, setting the stage for a feud among neighborhoods. Foes claim the barricade poses a danger to them.

One opponent who likened the roadblock to the Berlin Wall joined others in urging the city to take the barricade down.

Another neighborhood resident, Redmond P. McAneny, said the barricade poses a danger whenever motorists pull out into traffic. McAneny, an attorney, says the city illegally installed the barrier.

But city attorneys argued that the barricade is necessary to implement proper traffic circulation--an essential element of the General Plan.

The residential street had been inappropriately serving as a heavily trafficked local-collector street. City traffic counts showed that nearly 3,000 vehicles crossed Cascade Lane at the city boundary in a 24-hour period before the barricade was erected. Since the roadblock was installed, that number has been reduced to 80 vehicles.

Alex Korba, who lives on Temple Street in Westminster, said the barricade has changed people’s lives for the better. “Once again, they’re starting to take walks after dinner,” he said. “We’ve tasted the fruits of silence and safety.”