Freeway Pain and Gain

Motorists heading north from the coastal areas of south and central Orange County have a lot of experience with slow going. For years, the approaches to the San Diego Freeway from Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Irvine and points south were part of the price to be paid for gaining access to clean air and coastal breezes.

Recent improvements on the Corona del Mar Freeway and the opening of the San Joaquin Hills tollway did much to alleviate the pressure. That still left the intersection of the northbound San Diego Freeway and the Corona del Mar Freeway a predictable bottleneck.

The Orange County Transportation Authority has some welcome relief on the drawing board. It has announced an $82-million improvement project that will begin next year. There are plans for improvements in the San Diego Freeway between Fairview Road and Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa and for efforts to ease the congested transition between the two freeways.

To appreciate how much this project is needed, consider the motorists who ride north on the Corona del Mar Freeway now and want access to the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway. There is no northbound connection, so people have to leave the freeway and turn around: exit at Bear Street, turn left under a bridge and make another left turn up a ramp to merge with southbound traffic.

Included in the plan is a simple and overdue solution. It’s a connector loop. This one improvement is a good illustration of how everything on the freeway system is tied to everything else; make one interchange more navigable and there probably will be pressure relieved at other points.

Also planned are additional lanes, redesigned onramps and offramps and two new bridges. This general area serves the county’s largest employment center, which includes the Irvine Business Complex, South Coast Plaza and John Wayne Airport. Plans for new development have led to a projection of even more cars by 2020.

The authority has taken a lead role in recent years in looking ahead and responding to demand. The willingness of OCTA, the Transportation Corridor Agencies and the cities of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach to fund the project shows the value of cooperation on transportation improvements.

Obviously, a project of this magnitude will result in some inconvenience. But here is a clear example of short-term pain that promises long-term gain for the county and region.