Bypassing Clogged Arteries

By MEGAN GARVEY

Sept. 29, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Deliverance from traffic woes at the junction of the San Diego and Costa Mesa freeways may come--for carpoolers at least--in looming connector ramps rising high in the air.

The so-called flyover ramps, scheduled to be built starting in November, will provide direct carpool-to-carpool lane connections at a hefty price tag, an estimated $150 million. Similar ramps connect the Santa Ana and Costa Mesa freeways.

Included in the price will be work to fix the Bristol Street exit off the northbound San Diego freeway, now a tangled mess of cars merging from one of the busiest interchanges in California.

The first ramp is scheduled to be completed in late 2002, making it possible to go directly from carpool lanes on the northbound San Diego Freeway to the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway. The same ramp will enable vehicles traveling south in the Costa Mesa Freeway carpool lane to continue southbound in carpool lanes on the San Diego Freeway.

A second connector ramp is scheduled to be completed in late 2004, providing similar access from the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway to the northbound San Diego Freeway, as well as from the southbound San Diego Freeway to the northbound Costa Mesa freeway.

Caltrans and the Orange County Transportation Authority will work jointly on the project, which is funded largely by Measure M, the half-cent sales tax passed by county voters in 1990 for transportation improvements.

County commuters have been beset by road construction in the last few years, made possible in part by an estimated $3 billion in Measure M funds available over the initiative’s 20-year span. The latest flyover project--the last of five direct carpool connectors in the county--will mean at least four years of roadwork at an interchange that handles 433,000 cars daily.

The ramps are among the last links in the county’s system of carpool lanes, one of the most extensive in the nation.

The massive interchange project will be built in two phases and constructed without daytime lane closures, county transportation officials said. It will require a nine-month closure of Red Hill Avenue at the San Diego Freeway. The street, which runs near John Wayne Airport, must be raised 16 feet to accommodate the spaghetti-like configuration of ramps that will deliver cars up and over existing roads.

The consulting firm of Nelson Communications of Newport Beach has been hired to do community outreach for the project, which will take place at one of the epicenters for shopping in the county, near South Coast Plaza and Metro Pointe. The contract is for about $650,000, said OCTA spokesman Dave Simpson.

“We’re trying to be very sensitive to business needs and concerns,” Simpson said.

But workers at businesses on Red Hill Avenue, which will close beginning in March, say news of the lengthy closure is a surprise.

“It will be miserable,” said Robin Bishop, head of purchasing at MOS International, a firm that manufactures electronic scales. “That street is really highly traveled through this area. I couldn’t even imagine the alternate route people would take.”

Work on the Bristol Street and Avenue of the Arts exits will not begin until December 2000, although Simpson said any major roadwork would be delayed until after the holiday shopping season. The street portion of the project is funded largely through funds from the cities of Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and Irvine. At that time, work is also scheduled to begin on the second carpool connector.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Unclogging Carpool Congestion

Traffic engineers hope a massive $150-million construction project that begins in November will relieve congestion caused by carpoolers weaving across general traffic lanes to change freeways at the 405/55 interchange.

O.C. Carpool Connectors

El Toro Y - Completed Jan. 1997

5/55 - Completed June 1996

55/405 - Work begins in November

5/91 - Completion due late 2000

57/91 - Completion due early 2000

Congestion Points

Carpool weaving at:

55 South to 405 North

55 South to 405 South

405 South to 55 North

405 North to 55 North