City Studying Solutions to Traffic From New Post Office

Dear Street Smart:

Recently a new post office was opened in the 10700 block of Reagan Street in Los Alamitos. It is a sorely needed facility and we are all very happy to have it because the previous quarters were small and totally inadequate trailers. The postal department, however, did no planning regarding the placement of the facility or its impact on the traffic in this area.

Since the opening of the post office in May, we have noted an increase in traffic. I live in a small condominium complex at Reagan and Catalina streets and we are experiencing the effects. One of our residents tried to walk the two blocks to the post office with her baby stroller and said it was terrible.

I went to the City Council and presented them with the concerns of our association and our neighbors. I can’t believe that authorities cannot see the dangers on these small, overused streets. Perhaps you could help point us in the right direction for getting something done before someone is injured or killed.

Temi Doty

Los Alamitos

Some city officials are aware of the problem and are trying to do something, said Los Alamitos Councilwoman Alice Jempsa.

“I have gone out and taken a very serious look at the traffic flow,” she said, “and she is right; there’s been a natural increase in traffic. My concern is for safety issues.”

To help solve the problem, she said, the city has put up some new stop signs and do-not-enter signs. While they have had some effect, she said, more remains to be done.

The city’s traffic commission recently discussed the problem at length. It recommended taking “readily available” safety measures and, if necessary, asking the City Council for money for a traffic study of the area.

In other words, stay tuned.

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Dear Street Smart:

I have three things to tell you.

The first has to do with the awful job Caltrans did in putting down asphalt on the Irvine Center Drive off-ramp southbound on the San Diego Freeway. It still hasn’t been repaired.

Secondly, traveling east on Sand Canyon Avenue when you near the Santa Ana Freeway, the sign telling you that it is for the northbound on-ramp is on the right side of the road when it should be on the left.

And thirdly, when you get off at Alton Parkway from the Santa Ana Freeway at night, as soon as you pass under the sign--which is all lit up--it becomes extremely dangerous to make the right-hand turn to Alton because it is very dark.

Stanley Eskin

Laguna Hills

Caltrans has good news on all three counts.

First, according to spokeswoman Rose Orem, the deterioration of the asphalt overlay on the Irvine Center Drive off-ramp primarily is due to the number of trucks that use it and the excessive rainfall of the past year.

The ramp is scheduled for repair as part of a maintenance project on the freeway from Culver to Irvine Center drives. Because the project must be contracted out, it is likely to take a while. In the meantime, Orem said, Caltrans is trying to schedule the use of a grinding machine to make some temporary repairs, a job they expect to finish by June of next year.

Regarding the sign on Sand Canyon Avenue marking the northbound on-ramp for the Santa Ana Freeway, Caltrans officials couldn’t agree more. After taking a look, they decided to move the sign to the other side of the road, a process requiring approval from Sacramento and expected to take about three weeks.

And finally, Orem said, Caltrans will replace the light bulbs on Alton Parkway with higher-voltage bulbs as soon as the current ones burn out. In addition, she said, the landscaping along the ramp will be trimmed back to give drivers a longer view.

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Speaking of Alton Parkway, the on-ramp there to the Santa Ana Freeway just north of the El Toro Y in Irvine will close temporarily today to accommodate a major construction project aimed at, among other things, adding new parallel lanes to Alton Parkway that will allow drivers to bypass the El Toro Y.

The closure is part of the $166-million El Toro Y/I-5 Improvement Project, funded primarily by Measure M, the voter-approved half-cent transportation sales tax. Other improvements will include redesigned ramps, freeway-to-freeway car-pool connectors and 15 miles of continuous car-pool lanes.

The on-ramp is expected to reopen early next year. In the meantime, drivers wishing to head south on Interstate 5 should go south on Irvine Center Drive to the southbound San Diego Freeway, which will lead them to Interstate 5 south.

Bright orange detour signs will be posted.

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition.