A Little Less Crush in Orange

After almost two years of narrowed lanes and detour signs, the connector from the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway to the westbound Garden Grove Freeway in Orange opened to traffic Friday, offering drivers wider lanes and neighboring residents new sound barriers.

The work, part of a larger $118-million project to improve traffic flow on the Costa Mesa Freeway, was completed three months before its June deadline, but missed the November finishing date initially predicted by Caltrans.

“It is done. It’s open entirely,” Sandra Friedman, spokeswoman for Caltrans, said with a sigh of relief early Friday.

The new connector eliminates a portion of what seemed like a highway obstacle course around the interchange, a tangled construction zone that has frustrated drivers with detours and bumper-to-bumper traffic jams.

Other connectors in the area, such as the southbound connector from the Costa Mesa Freeway to the Garden Grove Freeway, aren’t yet finished. The Chapman Avenue offramp also is not completed.

The interchange is one of four construction zones in the 55 North Improvement project, a six-mile stretch of the Costa Mesa Freeway between the Garden Grove and Riverside freeways. Overall, the project will add one new traffic lane in each direction and widen existing lanes. The project is expected to be completed by April 2002.

Arshad Rashedi, a senior construction engineer for Caltrans who was surveying the newly opened interchange Friday, said the connector’s reopening is a milestone for the Costa Mesa Freeway improvements.

“The improved connector will relieve congestion on other nearby freeways [and] remove traffic off city streets,” he said. “I’m sure commuters will enjoy the connector’s speedier and smoother transition.”

Officials say the wider lanes will improve traffic flow to the Garden Grove Freeway, cutting roughly 10 minutes off commutes. The improvements also increase speeds during rush hour from 25 mph to 55 mph.

Other improvements around the connector include noise-deflecting walls that line the freeway, and better lighting.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

New Transition

The northbound Costa Mesa (55) freeway connector to the westbound Garden Grove (22) Freeway reopened Friday after 1 1/2 years of construction.