COSTA MESA : Stop Signs to Go Up at Baker and Andros

By mid-April, motorists making right turns from Andros Street onto eastbound Baker Street won’t have to worry about oncoming traffic on Baker Street not seeing them. Two stop signs will be placed at the intersection of Baker and Andros, along with two “Stop Ahead” signs.

The Planning Commission approved the installation of the four signs Monday after several residents told the board during a public hearing that they were needed to reduce the speed of some motorists in the neighborhood.

Residents in the area have lobbied for stop signs since 1987, when the city began making traffic studies.

“We’ve lived here for 23 years, and we’ve passed petitions around off and on for the last 20 years,” said resident Linda Watson. “But it never fell into the city’s engineering criteria. But now that there’s more traffic in the area, something had to be done. The kids have to cross there to get to California (Elementary) School.”

Dennis Johnson, an assistant engineer for the city, said all four signs will be posted in three to four weeks. The signs should deter motorists from driving too fast past the intersection, which is 100 yards east of the former Mesa Verde Elementary School, now used by Coastline Community College for classes, said Walt Davenport, the commission’s chairman.

“There’s a curve in the road and it makes it more difficult to see,” Davenport said, adding that the average speed along the street has been clocked at 44 m.p.h. “Anybody approaching Andros Street and traveling eastbound doesn’t have time to stop.”