Signs, Reflectors to Give Low Divider a Higher Profile

Dear Street Smart:

When driving in the diamond lane on the northbound Santa Ana Freeway, approximately between the access to the Garden Grove Freeway and the Orange Freeway, there is a low divider wall on the right-hand side separating the diamond lane from the fast lane.

This wall is virtually invisible to the driver at night, and it occurs unexpectedly. It should be illuminated by a string of reflectors for the length of the wall, to make it obvious that it is there.

I hope something can be done soon to take care of this before it causes an accident.

Carol G. Benedicktus

San Clemente

Caltrans is in the process of solving the problem, traffic engineer Joe El Harake said.

“This issue has been brought to our attention before,” he said. “While we haven’t had any incidents indicating that there is a problem there, we feel that the more we can do to make it user-friendly, the better it is.”

The agency doesn’t think that the lack of markers on the dividers poses an immediate hazard, El Harake said. But Caltrans is in the design phase of a $1-million project that will add those markers, modify overhead signs and include some re-striping in the area within the next six months.

Eventually, El Harake said, Caltrans plans to mark every carpool lane divider in Orange County with reflectors.

Dear Street Smart:

I have noted that, for the last several years, the freeway lane markers have generally omitted painted lines, either intermittent or continuous. The Santa Ana Freeway is a good case in point.

Although the Botts dots are useful and effective as far as they go, the absence of any painted lines constitutes a very definite safety hazard, especially where the concrete demarcations change frequently and where construction has been ongoing.

Caltrans may think it is easy for drivers to stay in lane, but at night and in rainy conditions even good drivers can find themselves in doubt until they actually hit the dots.

I understand that using paint is costly, but intermittent white paint can clarify the lanes markedly and probably save lives and dollars on a grand scale. Please make appropriate inquiry and respond to a major current hazard.

David L. Rosen

Laguna Niguel

There are two major problems with paint, according to El Harake. One is that it tends to wear off within six months, especially in areas of heavy traffic. Replacing it is both costly and dangerous for the workers involved. The other problem, he said, is that at night and in the rain, exactly the conditions you describe, paint is less visible than reflective glass markers.

The state now requires reflective markers every 48 feet and Botts dots every 12 feet. While the dots create a rumble when you drive over them, the raised markers reflect your headlights.

“Because they are raised, they give more reflectivity than paint,” El Harake said. “When you have your lights on at night, they reflect your lights beautifully.”

Until the early 1990s, the state used paint to mark lanes with both reflectors and paint.

But with paint, he said, “we’d have to be out there constantly replenishing.” Reflective markers need replacing only every three to seven years.

Dear Street Smart:

The San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor has been open for some time now, so when are they going to remove the construction barriers at the Laguna Canyon interchange? Heading away from Laguna Beach, there is a completely unnecessary lane blockage which funnels traffic down to one lane literally 50 feet before the on-ramp entrance. When will the complete intersection be put into service?

And while I’m complaining, couldn’t the cheapskates have extended the four-lane pavement to the El Toro road intersection, or at least paved the existing three-lane road?

Patrick Quilter

Laguna Beach

The barriers have been removed, said Michele Sperl-Miller, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which operates the toll road.

They were kept up after construction was finished to accommodate repaving on the southbound Laguna Canyon Road.

“It was easier to leave them there while they did the repaving, so that they wouldn’t have to take them down and then put them back up,” Sperl-Miller said.

As to why the road wasn’t widened or repaved all the way to El Toro, she said, “That would be a separate project for Caltrans and the county. All that area is environmentally sensitive--there would be environmental impacts” that would have to be studied first.

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.