Neighbors, Motorists Get Help From TCA

Neighbors who can’t sleep and stranded motorists who can’t call for help have problems that the Transportation Corridor Agencies is expected to address today.

Board members are set to vote on an agreement between the TCA and Orange County Transportation Agency to install emergency call boxes along the 15-mile San Joaquin Hills tollway. About 1,200 of the telephones have lined the county’s freeways since 1988, and TCA officials were alerted that the lack of call boxes on the San Joaquin tollway could be dangerous for drivers of the largely deserted highway.

A proposed agreement between the two agencies would put 60 call boxes on the road by May. The TCA would pay $156,000 to buy and install the solar-powered telephones; the OCTA would fund maintenance and operational costs, which include monthly cellular service. The TCA is also expected to approve the construction of a 500-foot-long block wall near the El Toro Road offramp to block light and glare from the road’s toll plazas. Neighbors on Falcon Crest Lane have complained that the light is a nuisance and keeps them awake.

Dimming the lights isn’t an option because such bright wattage is necessary to photograph the license plates of toll violators, TCA officials said. Instead, a 4- to 5-foot-tall block wall built on an existing berm along the tollway would cast a shadow on the eight homes behind.

The TCA meeting will be at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Santa Ana City Council Chambers, 20 Civic Center Plaza. Information: (714) 436-9800.