‘Gawk Screens’ Help Drivers, but Upkeep Is Too Risky

Dear Street Smart:

Why is it that the freeway center dividers do not have more of those screens that add height to them? The screens not only improve visibility at night, but also prevent rubbernecking by making it more difficult to see accidents, etc., on the other side of the freeway.

Jaime M. Schvartzman, M.D.

Irvine

The reason you don’t see more of those mesh “gawk screens,” as they’re called,is that they are being phased out, according to Maureena Duran-Rojas, a spokeswoman for Caltrans.

“In maintaining and replacing them,” she said, “we were exposing our maintenance workers to unsafe hazards.”

To avoid sending workers out to the center dividers to fix or replace thoseaging screens, Caltrans now is simply letting them disappear as new freeways are built or higher concrete barriers are installed to take the place of the screens.

“There is so much new construction going on,” she said, that the time seemed appropriate for the change.

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Dear Street Smart:

The shoulder of Modjeska Grade Road has been the informal trail head parking area for the Santiago Truck Trail for many years. This trail is popular with hikers, runners, equestrians and mountain bike riders.

Approximately one year ago, the top fifth of a mile was signed as a no parking zone. Most users simply parked farther down the road and extended their hike, run or ride. More recently, however, the no parking zone has been extended down further to near Santiago Canyon Road.

I was wondering what the rationale is for this new restriction. I understand that some residents of adjacent Modjeska Canyon have long been unhappy with the weekend traffic from visitors to the trail.

Scott McKenzie

Orange

Parking was restricted on the upper fifth of a mile of Modjeska Grade Road after the Sheriff’s Department received complaints about unsafe conditions there, according to Ignacio Ochoa, Orange County’s traffic engineer.

“The road is a steep, winding, narrow roadway that has no shoulder,” Ochoa said. “It’s just wide enough to allow a disabled vehicle to pull off the road. It’s benched on the hillside; you’ve got the hill on one side and a down slope on the other.”

Extensive use of the road for weekend parking, he said, caused three major problems: risks from passing traffic to cyclists standing in the roadway while removing mountain bikes from atop their cars; blockage of the road itself by drivers who could find nowhere else to park; and blockage of access to homes and properties.

It was the last problem, in fact, that prompted the recent extension of the parking ban. When a resident complained that his driveway was consistently blocked by weekend visitors despite the no parking sign he had posted, the county decided to help, Ochoa said.

He recommends that visitors to the area avoid Modjeska Grade Road altogether and park instead about a mile away at the end of Silverado Canyon Road or Modjeska Canyon Road where legal space has been provided.

First, though, call the U.S. Forest Service at (909) 736-1811 for up-to-the-minute information; the trail is frequently closed, especially during the rainy season.

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Dear Street Smart:

On a recent Friday night, I was driving on Imperial Highway just east of Harbor Boulevard in Fullerton. It was about 8:30 p.m., but traffic was restricted to one lane on account of construction. I thought that street construction was always done in the daytime. Why was it done at night?

Mario Luna

Fullerton

Actually, you have it turned around, Duran-Rojas said. Highway construction is always done at night, not during the day.

“We do it then because of the decreased traffic flow,” she said. “It’s safer for the construction workers, there is less impact on motorists and, in some cases, we’re not cutting off access to merchants.”

Generally, Duran-Rojas said, work takes place between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., although it can vary.

“What we try to do,” she said, “is begin construction after what we would call the high-peak traffic hours.”

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.