Newport Coast Road’s Current Course Only Temporary

Dear Street Smart:

I travel daily via the Newport Coast Road from the coast to Irvine and back. During the past months a spiral road was built which I thought was temporary until the toll road is completed. Some people tell me that this will be an on- or offramp to the toll road.

This extreme turn is most dangerous. I predict the loss of lives if this ill-conceived structure is really meant to be a permanent feature of the toll road.

Can you reassure me that I won’t have to travel this suicide alley the way it appears now? Have we not learned to build safer streets?

Trudy Topik

Laguna Beach

The 1 1/2-mile extension where Newport Coast Drive goes under the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor is temporary, said Michele Sperl-Miller, a tollway spokeswoman.

The turn allows motorists to get to Bonita Canyon Drive by actually driving in the northbound lanes of the toll road.

The detour will be in place only until the tollway opens, which is scheduled for Nov. 21, Sperl-Miller said.

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Dear Street Smart:

I am an employee of UCI Medical Center. I pay to park in the “Manchester lot” at the corner of Manchester and Chapman avenues. To get to the medical center, it is necessary to cross at the intersection of Chapman and The City Drive. There are walk signs at this intersection but cars, trucks and even OCTD buses fail to stop before making a right turn.

These vehicles also continue to make the turn even when pedestrians are in the cross walk. There have been injuries at this intersection and numerous close calls.

What agency is responsible for this intersection?

How would concerned pedestrians begin to have a “No Turn on Red” sign posted? As an employee of the emergency department as well as one of the pedestrians, I would like to see some action taken before someone is hit.

Margaret W. Larson, RN

Tustin

In response to your letter, Orange traffic engineer Hamid Bahadori said he will ask the Police Department to send a patrol car to watch that intersection.

Buses and trucks, like all other vehicles, must come to a complete stop and yield to pedestrians or they can be cited, he said. Bahadori said he is aware of the intersection but does not think it warrants a No Turn on Red sign. That could add to the intersection’s already heavy congestion, he said.

If vehicles are not stopping or yielding to pedestrians, it’s a matter for law enforcement, he said: “What we can do is bring this matter to the attention of the traffic section of the Police Department.”

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Dear Street Smart:

My daily commute takes me about 3 1/2 miles south on the Beach Boulevard “smart street” between Lincoln Avenue in Anaheim and the 22 Freeway in Garden Grove.

The synchronized signals are fantastic until cars reach tiny Acacia Street or the next street, Garden Grove Boulevard, where nine times out of 10 literally dozens of us have to stop.

It seems to me that the smooth, uninterrupted flow of traffic on Beach has to have priority over Acacia or Garden Grove. What can be done?

James W. Brown

Santa Ana

Beach Boulevard is part of a long traffic system that is divided into three segments. To accommodate the flow of traffic in all directions, engineers came up with a design that requires breaks.

The segment you drive has 29 traffic signals and begins on Rosecrans Avenue in La Mirada, said Caltrans spokeswoman Marina Duran-Rojas. Unfortunately, the segment ends near Garden Grove Boulevard and Acacia Street.

At Garden Grove Boulevard, the Garden Grove Freeway acts as a natural break and is the beginning of a new system. Each segment has a so-called break at the beginning, where Caltrans engineers have chosen to “platoon” or collect vehicles prior to letting them enter the next segment.

“Our engineers try to reduce the waiting period at the beginning of each new system,” Duran-Rojas said.

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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.