Traffic Signs Outrank Marks on Pavement

Dear Street Smart:

When a traffic sign posted by the side of the road disagrees with directions painted on the pavement, which prevails?

As you exit Interstate 5 south at Jamboree Road, the sign at the side of the offramp indicates that one may make either a right or a left turn on Jamboree Road from the middle lane. However, when you reach Jamboree Road, arrows on the pavement permit only right turns from the center lane. Would turning left at that point result in a citation?

Ray Bracy

Tustin

Not very likely, according to officials of the California Department of Transportation and the California Highway Patrol. Faced with conflicting information, they say, you should generally follow the directions posted on the signs rather than those marked on the pavement.

Why? “Let’s say, for instance, there’s a whole line of cars in the lane,” said CHP spokeswoman Sandra Houston. “If you’re the 20th car, you can see the sign but can you see the pavement? No, because there are cars over it. What everybody sees consistently is the erected sign. No officer is likely to write you a citation when there’s that conflict between the erected signs and the markings on the roadway itself, but if they were going to issue you a citation it would be for violating the erected sign, not the pavement.”

Regarding the conflicting instructions mentioned in your letter, Caltrans is looking into the matter and will correct any errors soon. “They should be consistent,” department spokesman Joe El Harake said. “One of them needs to be changed.”

Dear Street Smart:

Since the completion of the San Joaquin Hills toll road, all mention of Newport Beach and Corona del Mar has been eliminated from the approaches to California 73 from the San Diego and Costa Mesa freeways. The approaches now read: San Joaquin Hills Toll Road, period, the end. Any out-of-towner would presume that the 73 is now toll all the way.

When giving directions to our home we could once say, “Take the 73 and exit at Jamboree.” Now it is necessary to prattle on with, “Take the 73--it says toll road, but the Jamboree exit where you will get off occurs before it is necessary to pay a toll,” or words to that effect, a real nuisance.

I would like to insist that the names of the towns that are reached by the 73 and the 55 be replaced.

Anne K. Hayden

Newport Beach

The reason those cities were removed from the signs is because, with the toll road’s new configuration, they are no longer destination cities for most motorists taking the 73, according to Caltrans’ El Harake. Before the toll road was built, he said, many people took the road south to get onto MacArthur Boulevard and drive into Newport Beach or Corona del Mar. But now that the road goes all the way to San Juan Capistrano, he said, many motorists use it to commute to South County or San Diego.

Don’t despair, though, help is on the way. New signs have been ordered for the approaches to the toll road on the San Diego and Costa Mesa Freeways that will mention your town. They will be side-of-the-road signs rather than overhead signs, Harake said. The sign on the San Diego Freeway will read “To Newport, use 73” and the one on the Costa Mesa Freeway will read “To Newport Center, use 73.”

The new signs should be installed by July 1, according to Michele Sperl-Miller, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies.

Dear Street Smart:

Last fall, the Transportation Corridor Agencies responded to a letter in your column that complained of the unsightliness of the San Joaquin Hills toll road as it cut through the hills at the top of Bommer Canyon in Irvine. In their response, they promised to “plant 46 15-gallon oak trees along the side of the road facing Turtle Rock within three months after the tollway opens.”

Five months have now passed and there has been no effort to plant even a single branch. The lights from the toll plaza shine all night long and are brighter than the neon of the largest shopping center. Despite their claims to have taken steps to reduce the glare, some of the lights from the toll booths shine directly out into our homes, and the signs along the roadway are angled to reflect the maximum light out toward Turtle Rock. Nor are the dirt berms along the side of the road high enough to shield the headlights traveling northward.

What can be done to encourage them to plant trees in a manner to shield the majority of light from the toll plaza, soften the harshness of the cuts along the hills and reduce the visibility of the road from our valley? They certainly can’t plead poverty after the money spent on executive salaries and their new office building.

Jeffrey and Linda Kaufman

Irvine

The 46 oak tress have been planted but may yet be too small for you to notice, insists TCA spokeswoman Sperl-Miller. “Basically, they have to grow,” she said. “They are 15-gallon trees. We planted smaller trees because they establish themselves better and grow more quickly.”

Sperl-Miller said she couldn’t predict when the trees would be big enough to accomplish their intended purpose of cutting down on glare. “They could take a few years to get to a more mature size,” she said. “We wanted to plant something that’s going to stay, and they’re in the ground.”