Caltrans Is Quick to Smooth Over Dangerous Potholes

Dear Street Smart:

I drive many miles of freeway around the Southern California area and have found that the stretch of the northbound San Diego Freeway between the Garden Grove and San Gabriel River freeways has the most and largest potholes in the Orange County region. In particular, the two left-hand lanes (not including the carpool lane) both before and after Seal Beach Boulevard have some of the largest, craggy-edged potholes I have ever seen outside of New York City. I am afraid that someone will suffer a tire blowout after going over one of these potholes and cause a major traffic accident. Who can I contact to request that these potholes be filled in?

Howard T. Yata

Huntington Beach

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Potholes and other freeway road hazards should be reported to the Caltrans Transportation Helpline at (714) 724-2077, spokesman Albert Miranda said. But because you have brought the problem to Caltrans’ attention, it will be reported to maintenance crews, he said.

“Our area maintenance supervisors drive through their respective areas on a weekly basis and write down what maintenance activities should be programmed on the freeways for the following month,” Miranda said.

“The pothole maintenance program is a regularly scheduled one. When repairs are done depends on the stretch of highway, the time of the season and the severity of the pothole.”

However, if Caltrans determines that a pothole poses an immediate danger, it will be repaired immediately, he said.

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Dear Street Smart:

Why is it that the numbering of streets in my neighborhood (Newport Heights) starts with 15th Street? What ever happened to 1st through 14th streets?

Richard Showstack

Newport Beach

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The quick answer is that officials at the Newport Beach Planning Department, who are responsible for naming city streets, don’t know why the numbered streets in your community begin with 15th Street.

“That’s a very good question, and one that we haven’t been asked before,” city planner Scott Ferris said. “Over the years, the city has annexed different areas. Maybe that area is an annexation. But I don’t know why the streets there begin with 15th Street. That may have been a decision made 30 years or more ago.”

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Dear Street Smart:

Recently, I was issued a traffic ticket for improper lane change. Traffic was backed up, almost bumper-to-bumper, cars moving at a snail’s pace due to a car accident ahead, coupled with tourists going to Knott’s Berry Farm (11 a.m.). Sitting in that traffic for 20 minutes was not an exaggeration. My intention was to make a left turn. I made my lane change to the left approximately six or seven cars from the traffic light, or maybe two more cars before the lane to make a left turn. In other words, I crossed the double yellow line approximately 10 feet before the proper lane change.

My question is this: Wouldn’t there be a special circumstance when you can go ahead and make a lane change since there was no car in the lane . . . instead of waiting to clear the remaining two car lengths and wait for another five or 10 minutes?

Benjamin B. Alvarez

Cypress

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CHP Officer Sandra Houston said that you are asking to be an exception to the rule, and that is not going to happen. Everybody has a reason for doing what they do, she said. “But what we need to remember is that traffic laws were instituted for one reason and one reason only: safety,” Houston said.

“You can’t make an exception to the rule because if you make it for one person, you need to make exceptions for the masses and then there is no safety,” she said.

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Dear Street Smart:

As I drive around southern Orange County, I encounter numerous signals that seem to be malfunctioning because of their inadequate “reading” of the traffic. Certain signals will have no traffic coming in the direction that has the green light, yet will stay green for the entire cycle (over one minute), then will give a green left-turn arrow to an empty left-turn lane. Not just a short left-turn light, mind you, but another full cycle, as if there had been 20 cars waiting to turn.

Who can be contacted to request a personal inspection of these types of intersections when a driver that frequents the problem area notices a similar behavior?

Les Jenison

Laguna Beach

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You should contact the traffic engineer in the city where the trouble lights are located, said Caltrans spokesman Miranda, or if they are located in an unincorporated area, contact the Orange County Environmental Management Agency staff.