IRVINE : Planners Win Applause for Delaying Bypass Vote

It took three hours of discussion and five consecutive votes for the Planning Commission to decide to do nothing Thursday night on the proposed toll-free bypass for Newport Coast Drive.

But the vote to delay a recommendation to the City Council on the project actually won applause from University Hills residents in the audience who believe the road could create a traffic nightmare for their UC Irvine neighborhoods.

The Planning Commission is studying three proposed alternate routes for Newport Coast Drive. A 1.5-mile section of the road is planned to become part of the San Joaquin Hills Toll Road, which will end free access between Irvine and Pacific Coast Highway on the route.

The City Council has indicated a preference for one of the routes called “Alternative 3,” that would lead northbound traffic on Newport Coast Drive into the UC Irvine area.

“It cuts directly through the campus,” said UCI Academic Senate President James Danziger, one of about a dozen faculty members who spoke in opposition to the proposed route.

A group of homeowners in Corona del Mar and other coastal cities have filed suit against the Transportation Corridor Agencies to stop the conversion of Newport Coast Drive.

“We’ve got a free public road that’s being illegally taken,” said George Gallagher, president of the Irvine Conservancy, which is helping fund the lawsuit. “It’s a bypass that should never be built.”

But Irvine principal planner Mark Tomich said the county will withhold a significant amount of transportation funding from the city if an alternate route is not planned.

The Planning Commission will reconsider the bypass proposals Jan. 19. The City Council is expected to vote on the project in February.