A Connoisseur’s Commute

Howard and Mary Monise are highly evolved road warriors. They have to be: The couple live in eastern Corona, and their jobs are 35 to 40 miles away in Irvine and Santa Ana. To get there, they must negotiate one of the most congested highways in Southern California.

At least four days a week the Monises travel the Riverside Freeway, which at rush hour seems more like the road to perdition than the road to prosperity. The corridor turns into a bog of idling engines, squeaking brakes and commuter angst every morning and evening as motorists make 260,000 daily trips on the freeway.

Like many Inland Empire residents who regularly take the big ride into Orange County, the Monises are savvy commuters. As soon as they wake up, they turn on their bedroom television to catch traffic reports. They usually carpool together so they can shift between the HOV lanes and the general lanes. Their car radio tends to be tuned to all-news stations for even more traffic reports.

If the Monises can’t carpool, Howard rides his motorcycle, and Mary takes a combination of buses and the Metrolink commuter train. They also have a keen sense of when to shift their route home to the Foothill tollway to avoid much of the heavier evening congestion on the Riverside Freeway.

Facing the morning onslaught of traffic last Thursday, Howard and Mary were calm and collected as they prepared for their hour-plus commute.

Their 15-year-old son, Ryan, is upstairs getting ready for school. Howard has a final cigarette and kisses his 10-year-old daughter, Erin, goodbye. Then, he and his wife climb into the brown 1983 Jaguar sedan in front of their two-story stucco-and-tile home that sits on a third of an acre.

Coffee, check. Work papers, check. Makeup, check. Audiotapes, check. Mary holds one of them up, in her hand. It’s “A Life on the Road,” by the late newsman Charles Kuralt.

“Let’s go,” says Howard, a mechanic at Dan Gurney’s All American Racers in Santa Ana.

He starts the Jag and pulls out of the driveway about 6:45. Mary, a human resources administrator for New Century Mortgage Corp., is riding shotgun, a stack of papers on her lap.

Thursday’s traffic turns out to be lighter than expected. They first notice it as they enter the westbound Riverside Freeway at McKinley Street. The vehicles are moving well, and there is no backup at their onramp.

Howard heads into the carpool lane and accelerates to 60 mph. To the west, brake lights can be seen in the general lanes beneath the Ontario Freeway interchange.

Just on the other side of the Ontario, the carpool lane backs up. The Jaguar goes from 60 to 10 mph in seconds. It’s only a few minutes into the couple’s commute.

The Monises are entering the Corona bottleneck where it can take 40 minutes to an hour just to go eight miles.

Howard counts vehicles in the general lanes to see if they are moving faster than traffic in the carpool lane. He accelerates into the general lanes.

As they pass through Corona, motorists on surface streets are backed up -- some as long as 30 minutes -- just trying to get on the freeway.

Mary puts on her make-up while Howard continues to monitor the carpool lane. He notices that traffic is moving faster than the general lanes and decides to reenter the HOV lane.

The couple has commuted on the Riverside Freeway since they moved from Fountain Valley in 1998.

“There is definitely a trade-off,” Mary says as she applies mascara. “I would not move back to Orange County. There is a better quality of life out here. It’s more family-oriented, and you don’t have to leave town on the weekends to do anything.”

Past Green River Drive, the carpool lane becomes two lanes, and traffic moves so smoothly that Howard can do 65 to 70 mph. It’s a quick trip from there to the Orange County line and the 91 Express Lanes, a 10-mile toll road in the Riverside Freeway median.

In January, the Orange County Transportation Authority bought the tollway from its private owner. The deal lifted restrictions that have blocked improvements to the freeway. But, officials say, it is likely that the toll will be raised, perhaps as soon as this year.

“I’m glad the sale will allow OCTA to work on the highway,” Howard says. “But I never bought into the idea that they would lower tolls for the Express Lanes.”

The couple welcomes any improvement because traffic has grown worse during their five years of commuting. They are also worried that continued development in San Bernardino and Riverside counties will accelerate the congestion.

Riverside County alone is expected to double its population to 3 million in the next 20 years. Projections indicate that motorists will make 350,000 to 400,000 daily trips on the Riverside Freeway by 2025.

“Right now, I enjoy living in Corona, and I can deal with the commute,” Howard says. “But with all the building going on, I just don’t know about the future. There are going to have to be alternatives.”

At the Express Lanes, the Monises merge into general traffic as the HOV lanes give way to the tollway. As a rule, they avoid the toll road unless they are late or there is severe congestion. Their speed, however, is 50 mph -- exceptional for peak travel times.

About 7:25, Howard ducks back into the carpool lanes as traffic backs up at the beginning of the Costa Mesa Freeway. While vehicles are almost stopped in the general lanes, Howard does 70 to 80 mph in the carpool lanes.

“It is consistently bad on the 55,” Howard says as Mary reviews the paperwork for a presentation her firm is considering from a personnel management company. “I’ve only driven the 55 a couple of times [in the general lanes]. Lots of frustration over there.”

After making the transition to the southbound San Diego Freeway, there is a slight tie-up before Howard drops off Mary at her company’s Von Karman high-rise. She retrieves several bags from the trunk and kisses Howard goodbye. It’s about 7:45, almost an hour after they left Corona.

Using city streets, Howard makes a 15-minute drive to Dan Gurney’s factory in Santa Ana, where he assembles custom motorcycles designed by the race car driver. Howard parks and unclips his seat belt.

“Today was about as good as it gets,” he says. “But I’ve noticed the commute is getting worse and worse. The backups are getting longer and starting earlier. I know I couldn’t do it if I had to sit on the 91 like a lot of people.”