COSTA MESA

County Supervisor Jim Silva spoke to a community group last week about the proposed 19th Street bridge and Orange Coast River Park. The Wallace Area Improvement Group invited Silva, who represents Costa Mesa on the board, to speak at its annual membership meeting.

Silva said it would be difficult to build a bridge that would route traffic onto Banning and Magnolia streets because those roads weren’t built to handle the volume of traffic that would result. Representatives from the Orange County Transportation Authority also presented three 19th Street bridge alternatives that are being studied.

Silva anticipates bridge opposition will be 2 to 1. But he said traffic issues must be addressed. “We have to figure out a way to get the traffic east and west. We can’t take one problem and solve it at the expense of another.”

On the topic of the Orange Coast River Park, a regional park that would connect Fairview and Talbert parks, Silva said that “in concept, I support it.” But he said he will consider other factors such as costs of the project before becoming more definite.