Where It Meets Ward, Hazard Avenue Lives Up to Name

Dear Street Smart:

Three cities meet at the worst intersection in Orange County: Ward Street and Hazard Avenue. The cities are Garden Grove, Westminster and Santa Ana. The Ward and Hazard intersection is provided only with a stop sign. A junior high school is located on the southeast corner.

Over the last 22 years, there have been countless accidents at this corner, since drivers on Hazard apparently don’t see the stop sign. Some deaths and many injuries may have been the result.

A controlled signal is needed for protection of the students and general traffic. How can this be acquired, since none of the cities aforementioned assume the responsibility of this intersection?

John R. Sowers

Westminster

The engineer for Garden Grove, which has jurisdiction over three corners of the intersection, said the city has received several complaints, done several studies, and concluded each time that a stoplight isn’t merited.

This issue “has been in the traffic committee several times,” City Engineer George Allen said. “Every time we get a request from a citizen, we study it. Since 1992, we have had six requests regarding the intersection.”

Engineers look at several criteria, he said.

For example, if five or more accidents occurred in one place during a 12-month period or pedestrian traffic there was heavy, they would install a traffic light.

Allen said neither the vehicle traffic nor pedestrian traffic at that intersection meets the criteria for a stoplight.

Dear Street Smart:

With the new speed limit changes this year, I’ve noticed how few speed-limit signs are posted on the Orange County freeway system.

In particular, I did not see a single posted speed limit sign on the westbound Garden Grove Freeway between the Costa Mesa Freeway and the San Diego Freeway.

Are all of the Orange County freeways now 65 mph? Is there any requirement for a minimum number of speed-limit signs per number of miles of highway?

Paul Hanson

Huntington Beach

No, there are no rules about placement of speed limit signs.

Albert Miranda, a spokesman for Caltrans, said it usually places them near transitions from one freeway to another, about every 10 miles.

“We don’t have a steadfast rule,” Miranda said. “We just try to [place a sign] every now and again.”

The speed limit on all Orange County freeways is 65 mph, but that is being reviewed, Miranda said.

“There are different parameters that need to be looked at with each freeway, like the volume of traffic, the topography of the different freeways, the volume of lanes and the number of transitions.”

Dear Street Smart:

The San Joaquin Corridor Tollway Agency in its course of constructing overpasses and freeway connectors has from time to time intermittently blocked off one or more of the various street lanes here in Laguna Niguel in order to accommodate construction.

However, of late they have completely blocked off the use of Camino Capistrano during normal working hours from Avery Parkway to Junipero Serra on a daily basis, except Saturdays and Sundays and including rainy days when no work is being conducted.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this condition exits and is sanctioned by the good city of Laguna Niguel.

It appears that the closure of Camino Capistrano between Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano inconveniences commuters in order to overly accommodate the tollway agency.

Kindly advise if this condition is going to persist for the duration of construction or if something can be worked out to open Camino Capistrano, except when it is absolutely necessary to close it.

Vince Winninghoff

Laguna Niguel

Camino Capistrano is closed because “false work” is being built for the freeway.

In essence, engineers are building a cast for the concrete. Because the false work is heavy, engineers can’t move it back and forth.

False work “is not something that can be moved and removed like other projects,” said Dave Rogers, Laguna Niguel city traffic engineer. “You are talking about major false work, which includes steel beams.”

The road will be closed until the project is finished, which could be as late as December 1996, because engineers could not build a space through the structure wide enough for cars, Rogers said.

The structure will serve as a northbound connector road from the Santa Ana Freeway to the San Joaquin Corridor Tollway corridor.

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 (714) 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.