Surf Up Again? Roads to Ocean County’s Busiest

The busiest streets in Orange County are those leading to the ocean--news that won’t surprise beach-goers.

The county’s liveliest intersection is at Newport Boulevard and Coast Highway in Newport Beach, crossroads near the ocean that lure more than 121,000 vehicles each day. The next most active is just blocks away at Newport Boulevard and 19th Street in Costa Mesa.

Other high-volume intersections include Beach Boulevard and Warner Avenue and Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue, both in Huntington Beach.

A busy road, however, does not necessarily mean a miserable drive, transportation officials say.

The San Diego Freeway is the most heavily traveled, but the Riverside Freeway is the most congested, partly because of road construction, said Maureena Duran-Rojas, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation.

And the most traveled roadways often get the most attention from planners, transportation officials say.

Traffic at Newport Boulevard and Coast Highway flows fairly smoothly because the intersection is designed with a “fly-over” ramp that allows motorists on Newport Boulevard to drive over the highway without stopping.

Next year, the county will launch a long-awaited $23-million project to widen and realign winding Laguna Canyon Road. There were 795 accidents on the road from 1991 to 1996, resulting in 15 deaths. By comparison, there were 579 accidents and 10 deaths on Ortega Highway during that same period.