She’s at Ground Zero on Freeway Project

The phone on Crystal Cardenas’ desk rings more than 300 times a month. It’s usually ringing when she arrives at work in the morning, and it keeps right on ringing long after she has gone for the night. And with all those calls, she still never knows quite what to expect when she answers.

Sometimes they vent, cursing her and “her freeways” and Caltrans and that guy in the car in front of them. Others are polite, meek even, as they thank her for her time. A few even sent her flowers just for being there when they called. Most are confused. Many are lost. And then there was that one caller who just held the phone up to a flushing toilet.

“I never did figure that one out,” the soft-spoken Cardenas told us. “But a lot of strange things have happened.”

You might think of Crystal Cardenas as the voice of Orange County freeways, or at least their voicemail. Her job is to answer a help line for motorists who need information about closures or detours or even how to get to Disneyland. But a lot of people call her to share their, uh, opinion of traffic and torn-up roadways with a real, live person. We suspect Mr. Flush, for instance, was offering a commentary on Interstate 5 construction, but who can say for sure?

“Yeah, a lot of people are really mad, but not too many will cuss me out in person,” she said. “At night they leave messages, and that’s when sometimes they’ll curse a lot.”

Then there’s stuff that’s just plain weird.

One woman called to find out if she could buy some Bott’s dots, those durable, raised discs that divide lanes. Perfect birthday gift for her husband, she explained. Then there was the grumpy Anaheim woman who was convinced that her prime-time television reception was snowy because of freeway construction. Or the lady who called to say that she was very upset about the day’s traffic because she had just been bitten by a wild cat and her drive to the emergency room was being delayed (Cardenas suggested calling paramedics).

Cardenas even has regulars, like the florist delivery driver who checks in every Friday to find out what hazards might be on his route. Most callers, she says, are businessmen between 30 and 50, calling from the road. The next largest caller group is senior citizens (“I love talking to them, they’re so sweet,” she says), and the fewest calls are from teens and young adults.

A good chunk of her calls comes from Los Angeles County, such as the vanload of Buddhist monks who talked to her through car phone static last week to check on closures near Disneyland. Some calls are from farther away: A guy in Tucson phoned to ask how many miles away he was from Porterville. “I don’t know how he got my number. I don’t even know where Porterville is. It’s not in Orange County, though.”

Ah yes, Cardenas knows her stuff. That’s why her friends hit her up for advice about freeways and shortcuts the way you might ask a racetrack pro whom to bet on in the fourth race. “I love it,” she told us on the phone the other day. “I know the inside scoop.”

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AN OPERATOR IS STANDING BY: The freeway help line has been up and running since 1991, when it was created at the start of the major Interstate 5 improvement project, and it was initially conceived as a way to handle questions about just that one troubled freeway. But the folks at Caltrans and the Orange County Transportation Authority decided that the best help service would encompass all the freeways in the county, along with major highways, such as Beach Boulevard and state Highway 74.

Still, a good 60% of the calls are about the chaos on the Santa Ana Freeway in the Anaheim area from construction that’s not due to be complete until 2000.

Cardenas answers from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, but the help line is available 24 hours with an automated system that can tell you about ramp closures and detours with the punch of a button.

The help line recently changed to the newly created Orange County area code, so you longtime users should take note. The new number is (949) 724-2077.

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WORKERS MOVEMENT: The Santa Ana Freeway construction spots are among scores of sites in the county where Caltrans workers and others toil within feet of speeding traffic, a dangerous duty that many of us don’t think much about. On the San Diego Freeway, for instance, workers putting a sound wall up brick by brick have traffic whizzing past their backs all day long.

This might be a good time to start thinking twice about these workers and their safety.

From 1994 to 1996, 156 Caltrans vehicles were hit in work zone areas, killing five people and causing $586,000 in damage.

The danger is not just to the men and women working--drivers are also threatened when speeders and bad drivers don’t heed signs to slow down and pay attention in the zones. Nationwide, 6,800 people were killed in construction zone crashes in the last decade.

Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol have launched a statewide awareness campaign that includes stepped-up law enforcement in construction zones.

Since 1996, drivers who get a ticket in a marked construction zone have paid double fines, which certainly gets the attention of speeders. Now, CHP officers will be stationed at key Orange County construction areas looking to hand out these eye-opening tickets.

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KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: A few weeks back we told you about myths of the California Vehicle Code, things you thought were illegal that you can actually do with a clear conscience (changing lanes in an intersection, driving barefoot, etc.). One of them was about turning and lanes. But reader Ted Millard of Anaheim sent an e-mail pointing out that the item might be a little misleading because it didn’t strongly distinguish between left turns and right turns. After rereading it, we agree.

So here’s a recap: If you are making a left turn, state law says you can end your turn in any available lane (not just the one closest to you) unless there are multiple left turn lanes, which makes sense, because you don’t want to drift into another lane and ram the car turning beside you.

What we didn’t tell you is that there are some lane laws for right turns, as Ted explains: “It is my understanding that when making a right turn that it is started from the far right lane (the closest to the curb) and ends in the far right lane. It is also much safer. However, if there are multiple turn lanes, you should maintain your lane as you turn.”

Exactly. Thanks, Ted.

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The Roads Scholar wants to hear your insights, stories and questions about traffic, the commuting experience and Orange County transportation issues. You can call him at (714) 966-5724, send e-mail to geoff.boucher@ latimes.com or mail letters to him at The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA, 92626. Please include your full name, hometown and phone number.