Manhole Potholes Rattle Motorists on Coast Highway

Dear Street Smart:

What was the point of resurfacing East Coast Highway along the stretch that runs through Corona del Mar? For months we motorists lived with all the ruts and minor potholes grumbling but surviving.

Now the road has been resurfaced, but all the manhole covers that provide access to the various pipes and drains below the road surface have been left at the level of the road before it was resurfaced.

On the northbound side, in the right-hand lane, Caltrans has created brand new potholes up to four inches deep and up to 18 inches wide, each marked by a manhole cover. At first I thought they would come by night and fix these holes, but it’s been three weeks, the lines have all been repainted, and still, if you drive that stretch of the road at normal speed you will rattle your teeth three or four times as you come to the manhole covers.

This is more than an aggravation. I think it’s dangerous to have such hazards in what seems to be a newly surfaced street and I want to know why they did it that way and when they are planning to fix it.

Susan Hankey

Corona del Mar

The problem with the sunken manholes on that stretch has not gone unnoticed by other drivers nor by the California Department of Transportation, Caltrans spokeswoman Rose Orem said.

The road was more worn than Caltrans engineers had anticipated, in part because of this year’s punishing storms, Orem said. So repair workers had to lay a thicker coating of asphalt, leaving the manholes depressed below the new street level and making driving a bumpy experience.

Caltrans plans to eliminate this problem soon, she said, by installing a ring of cement and asphalt around the manholes and raising the covers to the new road level.

Other snags also have been discovered in the resurfacing project since its completion about three weeks ago, Orem said, including the need to synchronize traffic lights whose underground electrical detectors were disturbed by the digging and the need to install pedestrian crossing signs.

The work on what Caltrans calls these “finishing touches” will begin after the Fourth of July and should be completed by July 14, Orem said.

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Dear Street Smart:

There is something dangerous about the northern entrance to the Foothill tollway. People who mistakenly go in the FasTrak lane reserved for motorists who have electronic passes try to back up and get out. But they get into near collisions with fast-moving traffic coming behind them. I want to make people aware this is a very dangerous situation. Perhaps someone should build an escape lane for people who get confused. The existing warning signs don’t seem to help.

Tom Thompson

Foothill Ranch

Caltrans hopes to alleviate the dangerous situation you describe, and which also has been remarked upon by tollbooth personnel, by placing more informative signs on the Portola Parkway entrance to the Foothill tollway, said Lisa Telles, spokeswoman for the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies.

Telles said six new signs were posted on the parkway Friday to tell southbound drivers about the need to choose lanes at the entrance, depending on how they plan to pay to use the tollway.

The first sign, she said, will tell drivers that the FasTrak lane is for those who have prepaid passes that will be recognized by electronic monitors when they enter the tollway. Those who want to pay their toll at the booths must enter one of three other lanes.

Other signs with blinking yellow lights, she said, will alert them that the toll plaza is approaching and that cars entering that area are limited to a speed of 30 m.p.h. There has been a problem with drivers speeding through the toll plaza into the FasTrak lane, which can be particularly distressing to first-time travelers on the tollway who are trying to figure out what lane to get in.

“Those who get into the FasTrak lane by mistake should keep on going, not back up or stop,” Telles said. “It is safer to continue through.”

There is no need to fear that if you land by mistake in the FasTrak lane that you will be slapped with a fine, as you would be if you trespassed in the car-pool lane without a passenger in your car. What will happen, Telles said, is that a photo will be taken of your license plate and you will be notified by mail that you have 15 days to simply pay the toll without a penalty. If you do not respond within 15 days, a $10 service fee will be added to the toll.

Telles said your idea of providing a turnout lane that could be used an an escape route hadn’t been considered.

“We don’t know if it would be feasible,” she said.

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Dear Street Smart:

Thank you for discussing the issue of joggers in bike lanes from the perspective of the driver of a car (June 19). But what about from the point of view of a cyclist? I commute to work in Fullerton by bicycle. Sometimes I encounter joggers (or a wrong-way cyclist) coming at me in the bike lane. I don’t know what to do. Should I dive for the gutter and force the wrong-way person into oncoming traffic that they can see, or should I move out into the traffic lane, risking being hit by cars overtaking me that I cannot see? What does your Fullerton police officer have to say about this situation? Would he change his mind and cite a jogger or a wrong-way cyclist if they interfered with cyclists who are properly using a bicycle lane?

Bill Reeves

Brea

Joggers get a gold star for courtesy from Fullerton senior traffic Officer Greg Abercrombie, who said they usually move close to the curb to get out of the way of cyclists such as you. Bicycle lanes are usually four to five feet wide, Abercrombie said, which allows plenty of space for both a cyclist and jogger traveling in opposite directions.

Abercrombie said if you see a jogger coming your way who seems oblivious to your approach, you might yell out a warning. He said it is safer for you as a cyclist to move to the side of the lane closer to the traffic, even if you must look over your shoulder to see approaching cars. If the jogger does not leave you enough room to pass safely, as a last resort you could simply pull to the curb and stop.

Abercrombie said if he saw you and a jogger in a face-off, he would give the jogger a warning and direct him onto the sidewalk. Technically, bicycle lanes are reserved for cyclists, he said, and joggers are supposed to use the sidewalks, which are plentiful in Fullerton, even if the asphalt roadway is kinder on the knees than concrete.

However, Abercrombie said he would probably give a wrong-way cyclist a ticket. The vehicle code requires cyclists to go with traffic, while joggers should go against it.

Explaining his harsher treatment of a cyclist, Abercrombie said, “A bicycle is a vehicle and more of a hazard than a person jogging in the street.”

Abercrombie, however, acknowledged that he and another Fullerton officer, Sgt. Roger White, who was quoted in a recent Street Smart column, had been mistaken about the rule governing when cars may drive in bicycle lanes.

White said cars must stay out of bicycle lanes except when making a right turn, and Abercrombie thought the only exception was when there was a broken line on the bicycle lane nearing the turn. But several readers wrote to say that cars can move into a bicycle lane within 200 feet of making a right turn. When Abercrombie checked the state Motor Vehicle Code, he discovered they were right.

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition.