SANTA ANA : Street Widening to Speed Traffic

City officials are completing negotiations to buy property along a two-mile stretch of Westminster Boulevard as part of a street widening project.

The project, which could cost up to $7 million when completed by 1996, will increase the number of lanes to three in both directions on Westminster between Euclid and Fairview streets, said Transportation Manager Joyce Amerson.

The first phase of the project, to be finished in 1994, will cover the area between Fairview and Harbor Boulevard.

Amerson added that the street widening should ease the area’s traffic problems, about which “our residents have complained--and rightly so.”

Because of local congestion, worsened by ongoing work on the Santa Ana Freeway, many commuters cut through residential neighborhoods. With Westminster Boulevard traffic improved, there will be less incentive for drivers to seek short cuts, she said.

Bob Hoffman, redevelopment and real estate director, said the project area straddles the boundary between Santa Ana and Garden Grove, and properties in both cities must be purchased before it may begin. Acquiring portions of 43 parcels affected should be completed within the next few weeks.

Most of those properties include businesses that will lose seven to 10 feet of land. About six buildings, including one residential garage, will have to be remodeled or demolished.

Lynn Sawyer, owner of Lynn Bar Supply, said the project forced him from his home and business, which were located in the same building at 2606 Westminster Blvd.

Although he said the city compensated him fairly, he asked: “What choice did I have? It put us in a terrible bind because we had to move and moving is a heartache.”