Countywide : Cars Crawl Around Main Street Detour

As predicted, the shutdown Thursday of the Main Street bridge in Santa Ana to make way for a massive freeway widening project caused peak-hour traffic jams and confused commuters --although officials said the delays were shorter than expected.

The bridge, which straddles the Santa Ana Freeway, will be closed for two years to make way for the California Department of Transportation’s $38-million widening of the freeway. When the project is finished, the bridge will be expanded and lengthened to accommodate the widening of the freeway below to 12 lanes by 1996.

Because Main Street is one of the city’s major north-south arteries, officials expect long delays for the 35,000 motorists who use the bridge daily.

At 5 p.m. Thursday, it took about 15 minutes to complete the northbound detour route, and cars backed up to Main Street from Broadway.

“There’s a lot of confusion on the part of motorists,” Santa Ana Police spokesman Lt. Robert Helton said. “They’re turning into parking lots they shouldn’t go into, and (then other) people follow them.”

Police began monitoring the area Thursday during high-use hours, paying particular attention to troublesome intersections such as Santa Clara Avenue and Broadway, and Broadway and Owens Drive.

The extra supervision is to ensure that motorists get the help they need trying to navigate the detours, but it is also to crack down on frustrated drivers who opt to make illegal turns or other illegal maneuvers, Helton said.

“We’re trying to assist and get people on the right track,” Helton said. “It should take a couple of days for them to straighten things out. The commuters that drive in that area will become familiar with the setup, (but) it’ll take them one or two times through.”

Officer Ron Moreno, who was in front of the Wells Fargo Bank at the start of the northbound detour on Santa Clara Avenue, said that more than a dozen rush-hour drivers had stopped to ask for directions by 5 p.m. He said that as signs are repositioned to ease hot spots and clearly mark lanes, delays should lessen.

Sgt. David Smith, also stationed in the detour area, echoed that sentiment, saying it needs to be “massaged.” But he added that only one minor traffic accident had been reported by late afternoon.

Santa Ana traffic engineer T.C. Sutaria said that although backups developed in the detour areas, the morning traffic was “better than anticipated.”

Traffic signals were recalibrated at four intersections, and stop-and-go traffic approaching the Broadway exit ramp on the southbound Santa Ana Freeway prompted officials at 9 a.m. to place a police officer at Broadway and Santa Clara to direct traffic.

Northbound motorists are being detoured west to Santa Clara Avenue, routed north on Broadway and then east on Owens. Drivers traveling south are being sent to Owens Drive west, Broadway south and Buffalo Avenue east.