ANAHEIM : Electronic Signs to Offer Traffic Options

In an attempt to relieve traffic congestion in the Disneyland area, the city activated five electronic message signs Monday that direct drivers to less-traveled roads and route them more quickly to the amusement park and the neighboring Anaheim Convention Center.

The signs, which are similar to the electronic message boards common to area freeways, are part of a $1.9-million project paid for by city, state and federal grants.

The system will be controlled in City Hall by workers using seven closed-circuit television cameras to view the area’s streets and suggest alternate routes to drivers stuck in traffic, Traffic Engineer Jim Paral said. Three of the signs are on Katella Avenue, while two are on Harbor Boulevard.

For example, if traffic is backed up at Disneyland’s main entrance on Harbor, tourists will be advised by the signs that they can bypass the crunch if they use the park’s secondary entrance on Katella.

The signs will usually operate from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the fall and winter months, when tourism is not at its peak, and from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. during Disneyland’s busy summer and Christmas seasons. The signs will also be used for popular convention center nighttime events such as circuses and ice shows.

Though the system is costly, Paral said, it is less expensive than the alternative--widening the area’s streets.

“The area is pretty well built out, and it would be very costly to obtain (more land) and add lanes to the existing roads,” Paral said. “What this system does is allow us to better utilize the streets we already have. These alternate routes have the capacity to handle more traffic.”

Three more signs are to be installed near Anaheim Stadium next year.