Nearby Streets Likely to Be as Congested as Mall Parking Lots : O.C. shopping: Roads leading to major centers will be jammed. Experts urge alternative approaches--and patience.

In a demonstration of gridlock last week, a burro out paced a Ferrari across automobile-choked Lisbon. The same burro would do well Friday in Orange County, especially anywhere near South Coast Plaza.

That’s because the day after Thanksgiving--the year’s biggest for shopping--is expected to have more than twice the normal daily traffic on the streets surrounding the well-known shopping complex, with much the same expected at other Orange County malls.

Bargain hunters will prowl parking lots for empty spaces--a frustrating task they can be sure will take more time than usual.

“It’s going to be extremely congested, with major delays,” said Peter Naghavi, Costa Mesa’s transportation manager. “It’s going to be packed all the time.”

Police departments from Brea to Newport Beach are predicting the same, and the California Highway Patrol is urging motorists to be patient and avoid freeways during the morning and evening rush hours.

Some trouble spots:

* The San Diego Freeway at Bristol Street near South Coast Plaza, where traffic is expected to back up from the exit ramps onto freeway lanes at times.

* The Santa Ana Freeway between the interchange of the Orange and Garden Grove freeways and the Costa Mesa Freeway.

* El Toro Road in front of the Laguna Hills Mall.

* The intersection of Edinger Avenue and Beach Boulevard near Huntington Center in Huntington Beach, as well as the nearby San Diego Freeway exit at Beach Boulevard.

* The intersection of Imperial Highway at State College Boulevard near the Brea Mall.

In each case, the state Department of Transportation, the California Highway Patrol and local police urge motorists to use side street access to mall parking lots instead of the main entrances.

For access to South Coast Plaza, for example, city and mall officials are urging motorists to use the Fairview Road exit off the San Diego Freeway as an alternative to the Bristol Street off-ramp. They’re recommending this alternative route even though one of the three lanes on the northbound exit ramp at Fairview is closed for construction.

Costa Mesa and Brea are among cities that are adjusting traffic signals to allow longer green lights on major thoroughfares next to shopping centers.

Another potential problem for shoppers is the massive Santa Ana Freeway widening project, which has affected access to Santa Ana’s MainPlace mall. But a new northbound ramp off the freeway at Main Street is expected to work well, Caltrans officials said.

Still, there is one important detour: The Main Street bridge across the freeway is closed, so motorists exiting southbound at Main Street can’t turn left from the ramp toward the mall. Instead, they must take Santa Clara Street to Broadway, which still spans the freeway and connects to the mall.

“Everybody on our side is confident that the detours are going to work,” said Caltrans spokesman Albert Miranda. “There’s been a lot of heavy shopping already, and we haven’t gotten any complaints from anyone.”

But, Miranda cautioned, “give yourself an extra 15 minutes at least, and be patient in getting in and out.”

MainPlace Marketing Director Judith A. Bijlani said: “The new northbound off-ramp at Main Street goes right into MainPlace, so of course that’s great for us. . . . We don’t think anybody is going to have a problem. My only advice would be for southbound traffic to take the Garden Grove Freeway east to Main Street, because that’s quicker than staying on the” Santa Ana Freeway.

The malls are trying to help in other ways too.

“As we always do, we have a very intensive employee parking program,” said Jan Roberts, a marketing manager at South Coast Plaza. “We have about 1,000 employees park off-site. One parking place here turns over seven times during high traffic periods, so this frees up 7,000 parking spaces. It’s like adding two parking garages.”

In addition, South Coast Plaza has three valet parking stations--one on Bear Street, one in the Nordstrom garage and one on Bristol Street. The cost: $4. And there’s a shuttle bus as well that connects South Coast Plaza with Crystal Court and South Coast Plaza.

Weary shoppers will find a handy new feature at MainPlace that may help ease the stress before rejoining the masses on the freeway again: a hospitality suite with a living room, tea sampling, and a mother’s private nursing room. The suite will be available through New Year’s Day.

The reconstruction of the interchange of the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways, known as the El Toro “Y”, begins next week, avoiding the Thanksgiving weekend shopping rush but potentially complicating the rest of the Christmas season.