Road Work Plans Diverge

Costa Mesa City Council members were expected to vote tonight on a contentious proposal to relieve traffic congestion by laying the groundwork for the widening of 17th Street--the main artery through one of the city’s busiest shopping districts.

Widening the street from four to six lanes is inevitable given continued growth in the area just north of Newport Beach, city officials said.

“Adding another two lanes is going to happen in the future with the way traffic is increasing,” said Peter Naghavi, city transportation services manager.

Local merchants, though, oppose the plan, fearing the added lanes would eat up parking and landscaping along the busy roadway. A group of business owners collected nearly 10,000 signatures on a petition asking that the street not be widened.

Instead, they want the city to spend nearly $3 million in city funds to add bus turnouts, raised medians and traffic lights.

“If you tie up that traffic flow or eliminate parking, you’ll devastate business,” said Dan Perlmutter, who owns about 100,000 square feet of property along the street, including the Mother’s Market and Kitchen.

Although motorists might chafe at slow-moving traffic, business owners don’t want traffic to move too quickly.

“As a retailer, you want traffic going by as slowly as possible so people can notice you,” said Peter Desforges, who owns Pilgrim Square, between Santa Ana and Westminster avenues on 17th Street.

City officials estimate that nearly 38,000 motor vehicles travel 17th Street east of Newport Boulevard each day, slightly more than the 37,500 vehicles it is designed to carry. The resulting congestion has sent motorists spilling into residential streets.

City officials came up with three options for the City Council to consider to alleviate the problem.

One plan would add lanes immediately, which city officials did not recommend. Another option, which city officials endorsed, would spend $2.57 million in city funds to build bus turnouts, raised medians and turn lanes and install new traffic lights. While no lanes would be added immediately, intersections would be realigned so two lanes could be added in the future.

The third option, the one favored by local business owners, would revise the existing roadway but not make it ready for lane additions.

Money hangs on the decision. If the council adopts the merchants’ preferred option, they could lose a $4.2-million Orange County Transportation Authority grant, earmarked for street widening. “We need that money; the city doesn’t have that kind of money lying around in its general fund,” said Councilman Gary Monahan.

The council is also set to vote on a proposal to widen a portion of Newport Boulevard, which turns into the Costa Mesa Freeway, by adding northbound lanes. City officials recommended adding a traffic lane to the northbound side of the boulevard between 17th Street and Broadway, and two lanes between Broadway and the freeway.