Traffic Light Tests Patience of Huntington Beach Drivers

Dear Street Smart:

Recently the city of Huntington Beach installed a traffic signal at the intersection of Main and Delaware streets. This is fine, except that the signal stays green much too long for the traffic on Delaware, which is a side street, holding up the traffic on Main, which is a much more heavily used street.

I could understand the length of the green if there were pedestrians crossing, but this is not the case. Could you please investigate this?

Also, what’s the deal with closing off two through streets between Golden West and Gothard at the same time? I’m referring to Ellis and Talbert avenues at the library.

Debra Schroeder

Huntington Beach

Jim Otterson, traffic engineer for Huntington Beach, said he will look into the possibility of a defective signal loop or faulty pedestrian button there that might account for the long green light on Delaware. If there is a problem there, it will be corrected, he said.

Delaware Street does have a pedestrian crossing and the signal must give pedestrians enough time to cross the street, Otterson said.

As for Talbert and Ellis avenues near the Huntington Beach Library, it was a coincidence that separate construction projects closed the streets at the same time, Otterson said. Talbert Avenue already has reopened, and Ellis will follow suit in about a week.

Talbert Avenue, a street that once accessed the library, was closed so it could be converted into an expanded library parking lot, Otterson said. Drivers should no longer consider it a through street, but should use Golden West or Gothard streets.

Dear Street Smart:

Aren’t there plans to turn Crown Valley Parkway into a “smart street”? The traffic signals are not properly synchronized from Pacific Coast Highway to Pacific Island Drive/Camino Del Avion.

You always have to stop for a signal at Pacific Island Drive/Camino Del Avion. Sometimes you also have to stop at Sea Island Drive as well.

David J. Buddhue

Laguna Beach

Originally, Crown Valley Parkway was one of the roads designated to become a “smart street,” but priorities shifted and it is no longer on the list, said John Standiford, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority. Improvements already made to Crown Valley addressed what was needed, he said.

The county, in agreement with Dana Point and Laguna Niguel, manages the traffic signal coordination on Crown Valley Parkway. And the signals are coordinated from Sea Island Drive north all the way to Interstate 5, said county traffic engineer Ignacio Ochoa.

However, the signals on Pacific Coast Highway are not in sync with those on Crown Valley Parkway, and that is the reason you may encounter a red light after turning from PCH onto Crown Valley, Ochoa said. Caltrans is responsible for the signals on PCH, and it uses a type of signal system that is incompatible with the system that the county uses, Ochoa said.

Dear Street Smart:

I would like to inquire about the intersection of Campus Drive and Turtle Rock Drive in Irvine. Three lanes of Campus Drive dead end into Turtle Rock Drive.

At least as many people turn left as they do right, and yet the center lane is a right-turn-only lane. Often, the left lane backs up because of this.

Wouldn’t it be much more efficient if the center lane was both a left- and a right-turn lane?

Sheryl R. Manos

Irvine

After receiving your letter, Bonnie Burton, a traffic engineer for the City of Irvine, reviewed the current traffic volumes at Campus and Turtle Rock and determined the present signal operation is best.

Right-turn volume on Campus Drive is higher throughout the day than the left-turn volume, Burton said, although she said figures are not available.

In conjunction with the construction of the Riverside Freeway Express Lanes project, the southbound on-ramp to the Costa Mesa Freeway at Tustin Avenue will be reduced to a single lane through August. The re-striping of the on-ramp has removed the car-pool lane from the ramp.

The second lane will be restored when construction is complete.

Also, the Tustin Avenue southbound left-turn pocket onto the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway on-ramp has been re-striped to a single lane. This, too, will remain in effect until about August.

The Riverside Freeway express lanes are expected to begin operation in late 1995. For more information about the project, call the Construction Information Helpline at (800) 600-9191.

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to Caroline Lemke, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.