Fountain Valley Sorting Out a Variety of Traffic Signs

Dear Street Smart:

I would like to call your attention to the intersection of Brookhurst Street and Edinger Avenue in Fountain Valley. Left turns for east-west traffic on Edinger can be made during a signal stating “on left turn arrow only.” But north-south traffic has no such signal designation.

Given the absence of such a designation, does this mean that for north-south traffic the left turn light is a “protected left turn” and the driver may make a left only when the through traffic light is green, but the left turn arrow is red?

Would this also be the case any time the “on left turn arrow only” is absent, such as at the intersection of Brookhurst and La Alameda?

Ray Malispina, Fountain Valley

Motorists traveling east-west on Edinger can make left turns onto Brookhurst only when there is a green signal arrow, thus making it a “protected” turn. North- and southbound lanes have signs indicating which movements are permitted. Recent refurbishment at that intersection now allows for dual left turns in both north and south directions, said Mark Lewis, associate engineer for the city of Fountain Valley.

These new signs use pictures rather than words to tell motorists they can make left turns from the outer left lane, or left and U-turns from the inside lane, Lewis said.

Part of the confusion about turn lanes may lie in the fact that these new pictorial signs are not yet installed everywhere and appear different from older signs, such as the ones in the north-south directions of Brookhurst, he said.

Both types of signs meet the intent of the law, but the city wants to eliminate any confusion by making all its traffic signs uniform, he said.

“‘The new signs are more international. You don’t need to understand the English language,” said Lewis. “Right now our city is going through a very labor-intensive traffic control device inventory where a consultant is actually recording every sign the city owns.

“It’s quite a task, because there are thousands of signs, but part of the reason we’re doing that is to clear up any confusion,” he added. The sign inventory started in March and is expected to be completed in September, Lewis said.

Turns from Brookhurst to La Alameda are permissive, meaning motorists must wait during the green signal until there is a safe break in traffic to make turns.

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Dear Street Smart:

In many places where there are car-pool lanes on the freeways, the high-speed car-pool lane suddenly merges with the regular high-speed lane without any real warning. When the freeways are not busy, it is easy enough to see ahead, but when the traffic is heavy, there is nothing to see but the car or van ahead. This results in a crunch where two cars that were side by side suddenly both need to be in the same space.

A particularly bad spot is on the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway, just before the San Diego Freeway interchange. There is a very tiny, and barely noticeable, sign on the divider, visible only to the car-pool lane, that indicates the end of the lane, but nothing that really warns drivers in the high-speed lane that the car-pool lane is merging with their lane.

Can’t Caltrans put up some overhead signs warning of the merge? At least, a series of inverted “V” marks should be painted on the pavement, so drivers can see that a merge is coming up?

Jerry Parks, Newport Beach

When the high occupancy vehicle lane (HOV) on the Costa Mesa Freeway was first constructed in 1985, this segment of the freeway operated smoothly, with minimal congestion, said Joe El Harake, HOV coordinator for Caltrans.

In recent years, however, with commercial and residential areas developing so rapidly, Caltrans now finds many segments of the freeway incapable of handling the demand of added traffic, said El Harake. This has prompted Caltrans to redesign many sections of freeways throughout Orange County to meet the growing needs of commuters, he said.

Caltrans is looking into redesigning the Costa Mesa Freeway/San Diego Freeway interchange, El Harake said. Plans call for the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway car-pool lane to be connected to the north and southbound San Diego Freeway car-pool lanes by HOV Direct Connectors, and for surface streets to be accessed with exclusive HOV ramps.

Together, these design features will eliminate the need for car-poolers on the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway to merge with regular flow traffic, he said.

Until future modifications can be made, however, Caltrans agrees with your suggestion of installing signs to help warn drivers of the current merge situation, El Harake said. Plans are in the works to install an additional overhead sign at MacArthur Boulevard to provide ample warning to motorists traveling in the mixed-flow traffic lanes that a merge will take place, he said.