Caltrans Adds Foothill Tollway to Information Service

Dear Street Smart:

There is something very funny about the Caltrans Highway Information Service at (800) 427-ROAD.

Recently, I decided to try to get some information on the Foothill Transportation Corridor by punching in the tollway’s route number (241), followed by the number sign (#) to process this entry.

To my surprise, I got the following response: “The entry you have made is invalid.” I tried again while carefully checking the keys that I pressed on my telephone keypad. Same result!

Why isn’t this toll road in Caltrans’ highway information database? Except for the toll collections, this highway looks like an ordinary freeway in California.

It has official state route markers at the onramps, and the CHP enforces all traffic laws on this toll road.

Also, Caltrans never stated on its highway information answering machine that it would refuse to give conditions for toll roads.

Eric Ken Lin

Dana Point

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You have a point: The Foothill Transportation Corridor is now in the database.

“Because a section of the 241 is still under construction, the whole route had not been placed on the information service,” Caltrans spokeswoman Maureena Duran-Rojas said.

As a result of your letter, however, Caltrans updated the information line.

“Because people are apparently already inquiring about it, we went ahead and added it,” she said.

The statewide Highway Information Service is designed to give callers up-to-the-minute information on conditions affecting the state’s highways, such as traffic, construction or weather.

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Dear Street Smart:

I find the Caltrans Web site “Freeway Speeds” (https://www.dot.ca.gov/dist12) extremely useful for avoiding jammed freeway routes. However, I noticed that the map never shows the El Toro Y as having slow traffic. We all know the Y is always slow during the day, so is there a problem with the sensors?

Warren Chu

Rancho Santa Margarita

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As a matter of fact, the speed sensors at the El Toro Y are turned off because of construction work that has been going on since 1993, according to Caltrans spokeswoman Duran-Rojas.

We’re talking about tiny sensors embedded in the pavement that measure the speed of traffic and relay it to the CHP and Caltrans. Because the ongoing reconstruction of the El Toro Y includes the closing and rebuilding of ramps, Duran-Rojas said, some of the asphalt in which the sensors are embedded has to be removed. And because the sensors are interconnected, she said, a whole section of them had to be turned off during construction.

The project is expected to be completed by early 1997, she said, at which time the sensors will be reactivated.

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Dear Street Smart:

There’s a sign indicating “Newport Freeway” as you go south on Newport Boulevard and are approaching 17th Street up in North Tustin. I believe the freeway is named the Costa Mesa Freeway and Newport is its old name, am I right?

Cindy Tittle Moore

Irvine

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Absolutely right, according to Ignacio Ochoa, Orange County traffic engineer. And for the second time in as many weeks, plans have been made to update a sign to reflect a change that went into effect some 20 years ago.

“There are so many signs directing people to the freeway,” said Ochoa, who had a staff member check the sign on Thursday in response to your letter. “This is just one that slipped through the cracks.”

Two weeks ago, in response to a letter from another reader, Caltrans found a sign on the southbound Santa Ana Freeway still bearing the old “Newport Freeway” designation. It was immediately covered, and will be changed within one to two months.

Changing the North Tustin sign will take a bit longer, Ochoa said. “Since it’s not a health and safety issue,” he said, “I’m going to wait until the sign needs maintenance and then replace it with one containing the correct information.”

That could take anywhere from a few weeks to a year, he said.

Until 1976, the Costa Mesa Freeway was indeed known officially as the Newport Freeway. The name was changed that year at the request of the Costa Mesa City Council in keeping with the state’s long-standing tradition of naming freeways for their destinations.

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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 Edition, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him at 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.