Plan for Homes Worries Drivers

Anaheim is considering a developer’s plan to build 2,500 homes along one of Southern California’s most notorious traffic chokepoints, a proposal that has raised concerns that the gated community would compound traffic misery on the main route between Orange County and the Inland Empire.

The Irvine Co. project would go up at the junction of the Riverside Freeway and the Foothill toll road and would include one novel convenience for its residents.

In what may be a first in California, the developers want to build a private road and bridge to carry residents across the tollway, giving them a shortcut not afforded other drivers. The developer also would build a toll road exit and entrance.

The proposed housing project, which calls for homes as large as 7,000 square feet in the foothills along the highways, is of concern to some neighbors.

“It’s adding more people without adding anything to improve the situation,” said Bruce Cook, principal planner for Yorba Linda, whose streets are jammed with commuters trying to bypass congested stretches of the Riverside Freeway.

A Caltrans representative said a private road and bridge spanning the tollway could be unique.

“It would be very unusual,” said Lisa Ramsey, Caltrans branch chief for toll road oversight, who said state transportation lawyers were reviewing the proposals to see if they were legal.

An Irvine Co. spokesman said the company had already scaled back the project and may make further concessions to soften the project’s impact. A number of possible public road projects in the area should improve the flow of traffic along the congested Riverside Freeway, said John Christensen, Irvine Co. spokesman.

He declined to comment on the proposed private road.

Anaheim officials said formal traffic studies would not be complete until early next year but that the project might actually reduce traffic by putting homes closer to jobs. The 91 has become a heavily traveled corridor, with commuters traveling from the cheaper housing in the Inland Empire to the more plentiful jobs in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

“I think we’ll see a reduction in the growth of vehicles traveling on the 91 by putting homes closer to the job center,” said John Lower, Anaheim’s traffic manager.

But Anaheim’s own initial study, completed last summer, found that the project could cause a “significant” increase in traffic, exceeding what the state considered acceptable levels.

The toll road, California 241, sweeps down from steep Windy Ridge to the 91 and backs up during the afternoon rush hour as drivers jockey to get onto the jammed freeway.

“It all coagulates at that point,” said Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster. “The 241 is obviously like another river of traffic coming in there. It creates a real logjam.”

Officials and commuters also fret that recent improvements to the 91, such as a westbound lane opened in late spring that shaved 20 minutes from some commutes, could evaporate if many more cars were added.

“I am very concerned,” said Corona Councilman Jeff Miller, who sits on an advisory board consisting of Orange and Riverside County officials devoted to finding solutions to traffic.

“It’s crucial to make sure that the work that we’ve done over the last few years on the 91 Freeway does not get stalled [or] wiped out,” he said.

Drivers make 280,000 trips per day on the Riverside Freeway where it meets the 241. The project would add 25,145 trips a day to area traffic, said Lower, the Anaheim traffic manager.

Commuters on the toll road would not be able to use the private road and bridge as a shortcut to the 91. A series of gates would keep out everyone but residents.

The company has won approvals from Orange County’s Transportation Corridor Agencies to build its own exit and entrance to the toll road.

The TCA will reimburse the Irvine Co. for the work.

Under the plan, drivers would be able to enter the toll road heading only south, and exit heading north.

The Irvine Co. may have a tougher time winning approvals from Caltrans.

Ramsey, the Caltrans toll road official, said the idea behind the private road through the project was that “they want to [prevent non-resident commuters] trying to get around traffic on the 91. Regardless, that doesn’t mean we’re going to allow that.... We have not approved anything like that.”

Some local residents and commuters are critical of the plans.

“That’s crazy,” said Jack Ricketts, a San Diego-based truck driver, of the 2,500-home proposal. “Traffic is always bad here already.”

Mike Mabry, an air-conditioner repairman who sees commuter traffic clogging his own Corona street every weekday, said he understood why the developer would want to close off streets in the new project. But, he said, the developer should be required to make improvements that benefited everyone, and not eliminate valuable gains made since the extra lane opened on the 91.

“They’re entitled to build homes,” he said, “but my question is, what are they going to give in return?”

In e-mails to Anaheim staffers, residents of that city also expressed concern.

“The traffic in this area is already intolerable,” wrote Denise White, a real estate manager. “I have lived in this area for approximately 21 years and traffic continues to grow and grow.... The 91 freeway and immediate surface streets are constantly jammed.”

The proposed development would have homes starting from 1,600 square feet. It would include a private recreation center, fire station, school site and interpretive center.

Aside from a concrete and quarry operation where the land has been heavily graded and flattened, the development site consists of rugged, undeveloped canyons and ridges bordering Anaheim Hills, the 91 Freeway, Chino Hills State Park and the Cleveland National Forest.

The city Planning Commission, then City Council, are expected to vote on the project next year. If approved, construction would begin within months, with expected completion by 2010.