Residents in Corona Steam as Commuters Take Over Streets

Before dawn the first commuters of the day hurtle through Corona’s streets at speeds of up to 75 mph. As rush hour builds, gridlock sets in, jamming the city’s main thoroughfares with motorists, many of them out-of-towners taking shortcuts to bypass the congested Riverside Freeway as they head to their jobs in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Sometimes the traffic is so bad, Leo Arroyo says he can’t get out of his own driveway in the morning. Arroyo, 54, who commutes to work in the San Fernando Valley, lives on Ontario Avenue, one of the most popular cross-town routes to avoid the clogged freeway.

“The bumper-to-bumper traffic makes it impossible to leave,” Arroyo said. “It’s really a problem, and it’s getting worse.”

City officials feel Arroyo’s pain. On Thursday, they filed a legal claim against the California Department of Transportation that seeks to compensate Corona for traffic congestion allegedly related to the four privately owned toll lanes on the Riverside Freeway in Orange County. The action is a prelude to a lawsuit.

“We are fed up with the congestion and people cutting through town by our homes, schools, churches and retail centers,” said Councilman Jeff Miller. “Our citizens see the state allocating millions of dollars elsewhere for freeway construction. What do our citizens see in Corona? Nothing.”

At issue is a state agreement to allow construction of 10 miles of toll lanes between the Costa Mesa Freeway in Anaheim and the Riverside-Orange County border. The 91 Express Lanes opened in 1995.

Six years before that, the California Private Transportation Co., a company that owns and operates the toll lanes, entered into a franchise agreement with Caltrans that prohibits the state from making freeway improvements that might draw motorists away from the toll lanes.

Corona officials claim that the agreement, which gives the express lane company veto power over widenings, has effectively stopped Caltrans from doing anything to reduce congestion on the Riverside Freeway through Corona.

“Caltrans intentionally created the traffic on the 91 to force a demand for the toll lanes,” said Jeffrey Dunn, an attorney representing the city.

Caltrans officials declined to comment on the claim, except to say they are aware of the congestion on the freeway. “We will just have to see how this plays out,” said Rose Melgoza, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Supporters of the express lanes, however, blame the congestion on rapid population growth in Riverside County, one of the fastest growing areas in the nation. Toll lanes, they say, are part of the solution, not the problem.

Today, the Riverside Freeway, which runs through narrow Santa Ana Canyon, is one of the most congested in Southern California. Every workday, about 250,000 motorists use the highway during peak travel periods.

Because the vast majority of commuters live in Riverside County and work in Orange County, the traffic flow is almost entirely west in the morning and east in the evening.

The worst stretch is known as the Corona Bottleneck, which starts at Interstate 15 in Riverside County and ends across town at Green River Drive, the last entrance to the highway in Corona.

City officials say that thousands of motorists resort to Corona’s streets to bypass the bottleneck. They estimate 40% to 65% of the drivers are from Riverside County cities to the east and south of Corona.

Officials in Corona say the increased traffic has increased air pollution and response times for police and firefighters. According to the claim, the congestion has lowered property values and increased street maintenance costs by $10 million to $20 million over the last decade.

Councilman Miller, an insurance agent who drives 30 miles to his office in Placentia, estimates that it can take him up to 20 minutes to reach the freeway from his home. Then, it can take another 40 minutes to reach the city limits.

“I know what it’s like to be late for my daughter’s piano lessons, and I know what it’s like to be late for dinner,” said Miller. “We have got to do something.”

Street Congestion

The city of Corona has filed a legal claim against the state, saying it is responsible for street congestion caused by commuters seeking to avoid the clogged Riverside Freeway.

Graphics reporting by DAN WEIKEL / Los Angeles Times