Foliage Trim Clears Up Problem at Off-Ramp to Bristol

Dear Street Smart:

I would like to point out a potential hazardous situation on the Bristol Street off-ramp from the San Diego Freeway heading north.

This is a very heavily traveled off-ramp that provides access to South Coast Plaza and the Performing Arts Center. I’m concerned that the foliage bordering the curving off-ramp is a major sight hazard by blocking backed-up cars from the view of exiting motorists.

Several times now I and several of my office colleagues who work in the vicinity have had to immediately apply the brakes to avoid hitting the long line of cars waiting to exit/enter onto Bristol. Cutting the trees would help drivers see ahead and anticipate sudden stops.

Linda C. Adams Laguna Niguel

Caltrans landscape architect Phillip Olivares investigated the northbound San Diego Freeway off-ramp at Bristol and determined there was some overgrowth of foliage. On July 11, a Caltrans maintenance crew trimmed trees and shrubbery to improve the situation, said agency spokeswoman Rose Orem.

Dear Street Smart:

Fairly recently, Olympiad Road/Felipe Road was widened between Alicia Parkway and Oso Parkway in Mission Viejo. I had patiently endured having to wait for cars going straight to make my right turn onto Alicia from southbound Olympiad during the construction, as I expected any reasonable engineer to accommodate the many people who do turn onto Alicia.

As it turns out, no right-turn lane was made even though the corner has a particularly large sidewalk. Can you find out why this was not done and if there are any plans for a right-turn lane in the future?

In reference to the same project, it seems that the bicycle lane on the northbound side is particularly narrow. Are there any laws or guidelines for bike lanes and do these fall within those guidelines? It seems in this era of alternative forms of transport we should be encouraging, not discouraging, the use of bicycles.

Larry Stahl Mission Viejo

Shirley Land, traffic engineer for Mission Viejo, said her department will look at the area to see if a right-turn lane is needed from southbound Olympiad Road onto Alicia Parkway.

“Usually, you dedicate a separate right-turn lane only when you approach 200 vehicles per hour,” Land said. “In the past, that particular location did not have a high number of right turns.”

Land said that with the completion of new streets such as the Alicia extension and the Oso extension, the volume of traffic overall on Olympiad Road has been reduced.

The bike lane, she said, meets the 5-to-8-foot-wide range that is standard for most bike lanes.

*

Community-based groups representing business, trade and professional associations will be selected to participate in workshops about the future of transportation in Orange County. Members of alumni, civic, fraternal and social organizations, hobby and recreation clubs and other special-interest groups will also be included in the Orange County Transportation Authority’s 2020 Orange County Transportation Vision.

Four to six groups from each of the five supervisorial districts will be asked to participate in community brainstorming sessions. Major questions to be discussed at the sessions include:

* How should transportation priorities be determined?

* What should Orange County’s future transportation system be like beyond the year 2020?

* Who should make transportation decisions in Orange County?

* How should we pay for the transportation systems of the future?

Meetings to gather public comments will continue through September. Discussion and comments of the four major questions will be incorporated into a report this fall. The OCTA board is expected to hold a formal public hearing and adopt the 2020 Orange County Transportation Vision in December.