NEWPORT BEACH : Council to Get Plans for Improving Roads

Plans for several major road improvements, including widening sections of two freeways and a new interchange at Newport Boulevard and West Coast Highway, will be before the City Council tonight.

The plan to widen the Corona del Mar and San Diego freeways where they intersect is part of a mitigation measure for the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor, according to a report by Public Works Director Don Webb.

He will seek a preliminary agreement to join with the Orange County Transportation Authority, Transportation Corridors Agencies and National Transportation Agency, which has a contract with Caltrans to work on the project.

The project would widen the Corona del Mar Freeway by two lanes, provide three lanes on all Corona del Mar-San Diego Freeway connectors, improve on- and off-ramps at Harbor Boulevard and Fairview Road, replace a northbound connector, widen the northbound San Diego Freeway from the Corona del Mar Freeway to Harbor Boulevard and widen the bridge over the Santa Ana River near Euclid Street.

A draft design for the improvements would be ready by May, with final approval slated for August. Environmental reports would be circulated in October.

Also before the council is a request for $58,900 for design specifications, details and estimates to submit to Caltrans to replace the Newport Boulevard bridge over Newport Bay’s Lido Channel.

That project calls for lanes providing smoother access to and from the highway on the interchange, where an aging, narrow bridge bears traffic to and from Balboa peninsula. Its west side would be expanded by one lane in the project.

Also under consideration are plans to replace power lines along MacArthur Boulevard from East Coast Highway to Ford Road at a cost of $530,000, and a proposal to rebuild storm drains on Tustin Avenue and reconstruct a section of Riverside Avenue pushed up by tree roots.