ORANGE : Lane Changes Planned Near Villa Park Center

A long-running dispute with Villa Park over a left-turn lane into a popular shopping center has finally been resolved.

The Orange City Council this week adopted a compromise: to build a left-turn-only lane on Santiago Boulevard for drivers turning into Villa Park Town Center after entering Santiago from Brookside Avenue, which is in Orange.

The problem is that Brookside does not align with the main entrance to the shopping center. For years, motorists have complained by letter and in person about near misses as they turn right onto Santiago and then must immediately merge left to turn into the retail center.

A single left-turn lane now serves for both northbound and southbound traffic on Santiago, so on a short stretch of the street, drivers wishing to turn sometimes approach each other head-on.

Orange traffic engineers had recommended prohibiting left turns into the shopping center off Santiago and directing traffic to one of the center’s five other entrances.

That proposal drew howls of protest from merchants, and Villa Park officials insisted that not enough accidents had occurred there to justify such a measure.

The compromise finally reached is to build short left-turn pocket lanes in each direction and to post signs instructing motorists to move on if those lanes are full. The cost of the project is estimated at about $8,000.

Villa Park officials did not have to vote on the matter because the roadways are both in Orange.