YORBA LINDA : Residents to Debate Street-Closing Plan

A recently completed neighborhood traffic study recommends closing five streets in the Brooklyn Avenue neighborhood in an effort to alleviate cut-through, speeding traffic.

Under the plan outlined in the study, Brooklyn would be closed at the west side of 2nd Street, two blocks east of the existing temporary barricade.

Marda Avenue would be closed on the east side of 2nd Street, and Walnut Street, Chestnut Street and Chicago Avenue would be closed at the east side of 3rd Street. According to Traffic Engineer Joanne Kulachok, the proposed cul-de-sacs would make the neighborhood less attractive to motorists trying to avoid traffic on Imperial Highway.

“It creates a more circuitous route,” Kulachok said. “By slowing down motorists, it discourages (cut-through) traffic.”

City officials have asked residents in the Brooklyn Avenue neighborhood, who are divided about the plan, to come to a workshop Monday to discuss it and two alternatives.

Residents on Brooklyn say motorists use their street to bypass Imperial Highway between Valley View and Prospect avenues. Closing Brooklyn at one end, they say, is the only way to eliminate that cut-through traffic.

But residents on streets to the north of Brooklyn say closing that street will only increase traffic on their streets, and it eliminates a route used by emergency vehicles.

A temporary barricade, erected last month during a traffic study, escalated the battle.

The traffic study, which looked at volume and speeds on all the area streets both before and after the barricade was erected, offered several conclusions:

* Nearly one-third of the traffic on Brooklyn Avenue during peak afternoon hours is cut-through traffic. One-fourth of traffic during peak morning hours is considered cut-through.

* With the barrier in place at Brooklyn and 4th Street, most of the traffic was redistributed to Wabash and Walnut, which experienced an increase of 125% and 75% respectively.

* If cul-de-sacs are installed as proposed, the most inconvenienced would be residents of Chestnut Street, who would have to travel five more blocks to leave the neighborhood to the west.

Two other alternatives to the cul-de-sacs included in the study were speed humps and narrowing the streets at every intersection. Neither are considered as effective as cul-de-sacs in eliminating cut-through traffic and reducing speeds.

Marilyn and Steve Nullmeyer, who have lead the effort to close Brooklyn, say they would be willing to accept a compromise solution if it means a more peaceful neighborhood.

“While the safety of our children is most important, we are also concerned about restoring harmony among all our neighbors,” Marilyn Nullmeyer said. “We never intended to do anything that would be harmful for residents on other streets.”