New Magnolia-Woodland Signal Seems Like a Dim Bulb

Dear Street Smart:

There was a new signal placed into service a few months ago on Magnolia Avenue at Woodland Drive in Anaheim. Before this, the signal was very “smart.” (It would stay green for the Magnolia Avenue direction when there was no traffic on Woodland Drive.)

Now it is not so “bright” and often turns red in the middle of the night when no opposing traffic is near.

Could you please forward a request to “educate” this signal to the proper folks?

Casey Flanagan

Costa Mesa

Anaheim traffic engineers said they will send someone to investigate.

The problem could involve the loops, which are on the street about 250 feet from the intersection. Usually, these sensor loops monitor the traffic flow and send the information to the computer system controlling the lights, said Nathan Behura, associate traffic engineer.

If there is no traffic on Woodland Drive, the green light in the Magnolia direction should remain green.

But if the loops are damaged or fail, the system reverts back to a preset timing program, Behura said. That may be why this traffic light is behaving like a dim bulb.

Dear Street Smart:

What can the designers of the Santa Ana Freeway be thinking, creating the death trap at the Orange Freeway?

Drivers from the Orange Freeway entering to go south must merge left onto the Santa Ana Freeway at this point, but a huge arrow directs them to the right instead, toward an exit. Meanwhile, cars barrel simultaneously at them from left and right as two other lanes (from the Garden Grove Freeway) abruptly merge into the single lane going into the Santa Ana Freeway in the space of two or three car lengths.

The driver merging onto the Santa Ana Freeway from the Orange Freeway must take his life in his hands to cross the traffic to enter the Santa Ana Freeway before ending up somewhere in downtown Santa Ana.

It’s hair-raising to avoid being hit by cars merging from both sides at freeway speed. Then you have to add getting across that racing traffic on the left to enter the Santa Ana Freeway. Everybody is frantically trying to cross in front of everybody else in no distance at all to get where they’re going.

This is just insane. And when traffic is heavy, it also serves to back up cars on the Orange Freeway for miles at a dead stop.

Can you tell me if there are any plans for this situation to be corrected? Soon.

Kaye Klem

Mission Viejo

Yes, the frantic situation will be corrected, but not until later this year with the completion of the interchange of the Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Orange freeways and the Main Street project.

Currently, this area begins with six lanes: three from the southbound Santa Ana Freeway, two from the southbound Orange Freeway to the Santa Ana Freeway, and one from the southbound Santa Ana Freeway to Broadway and Main Street, said Rose Orem, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation. Two of the lanes merge into one, leaving five lanes. Of those, one is an exit to Broadway and another is an exit to Main Street. Three lanes are left to handle the rest of the traffic continuing south on the Santa Ana Freeway, Orem said.

But that area will be expanded to seven lanes. Four will be for traffic heading south on the Santa Ana Freeway. The other three--two from the southbound Orange Freeway and one from the Santa Ana Freeway to Broadway and Main Street--will act as a collector/distributor road.

This setup will separate weaving traffic from direct traffic on the Santa Ana Freeway, making it easier for motorists to merge and switch lanes, Orem said. In addition, the lanes, which currently are narrower than normal, will be broadened to give drivers more elbow room.

Orem said the work is expected to be completed in mid-year.

Dear Street Smart:

Almost every day I see the letters “U.S.A.” painted on highway pavements with arrows pointing to cracks in the pavement. What does the U.S.A. stand for?

Dolores Keenum

Irvine

They mean “Underground Service Alert,” said Leslie Manderscheid, a Caltrans spokeswoman.

“U.S.A.” is a statewide designation used by Caltrans to alert construction or maintenance workers to underground utility lines so that they can take precautions if digging in those areas.

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to 966-7711 or e-mail him David.Haldane@latimes.com. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.