In O.C., a ‘Comin’ Round the Mountain’ Commute

Joanna Popov doesn’t have a bad commute most days. It takes her 20 minutes to get from Mission Viejo to her job east of San Juan Capistrano. It’s a simple drive, down Interstate 5 and then up Ortega Highway for a few miles.

But since torrential rains damaged the highway, forcing its closure Jan. 11, these are not average days. Instead of the short drive on the winding mountain road that connects Orange and Riverside counties, Popov’s commute takes her more than three hours one way.

With the highway closed, commuters must drive around the Santa Ana Mountains to Lake Elsinore, then cross the range west into Orange County and work.

Popov is just one of many employees at Quest Diagnostics whose commutes have turned into twice-daily grand tours of the Southern California freeway system.

Dr. Jon Nakamoto, managing director of the medical testing company, estimated that two-thirds to three-fourths of the firm’s 1,400 employees live in Orange County. Ironically, in many cases, the closer they live to the office, the longer their drive to work.

Nakamoto’s own 20-minute drive from Rancho Santa Margarita is now a two-hour carpool commute that begins at 6 a.m.

Ortega Highway is closed about three miles east of Interstate 5 in Orange County because of a 120-foot-wide sinkhole caused by flooding. No other road is nearby. Reopening of Ortega Highway has been delayed until late this week, according to the state Department of Transportation, because of a high-pressure gas line that requires workers to take special safety precautions. In addition, the material to finish the roadbed is in short supply because work is being done all over Southern California, Caltrans said.

Quest employees are not the only ones inconvenienced by Ortega Highway’s closure.

Marilyn Ivy owns Ortega Country Cottage, better known as the Candy Store, about 10 miles from Lake Elsinore in Riverside County. The current issue of Sunset magazine has it on its list of “Five Good Candy Stores.”

Ivy’s business depends on hikers, tourists and commuters who stop for coffee or her honeycomb, peppermint bark or French truffles. The store is across Ortega Highway from a hiking trail, just 10 minutes from a waterfall that’s been supercharged by all the rain.

But since the road closed, her business has all but disappeared.

Shuttle buses from Quest pass the Candy Store all day. Since the highway closed to all but local traffic, shuttles and carpools, the company has been running red and white buses between its office and the Lake Elsinore Storm minor league baseball team’s stadium, still nearly 45 minutes away. The only other way employees are allowed on the road is in carpools from Lake Elsinore.

Quest has resorted to using helicopters to bring in some of the materials the firm analyzes to ensure that they don’t spoil. Before the road was closed, vans would pick up material at John Wayne Airport and drive it to Quest. But these days, the trek could take too long.

“We were running helicopters as fast as they could come in last week,” said Bruce Garley, a microbiologist, who flew in on one trip. “It was like ‘MASH,’ with the helicopters coming in over the hills.”

He said trucks formed a circle one night and turned on their headlights so a pilot could see where to land in the parking lot.

Rene McCartney, another Quest employee, took a different approach to beat the commute from Laguna Niguel. She sent her 11-year-old son to a neighbor’s Sunday night and packed one bag with clothes and another with food. She brought an air mattress, a comforter, sheets and an alarm clock and turned a conference room into her bedroom. She slept there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, before returning home Wednesday.

“I think I got more rest than the people driving in,” she said. “Less stress because there wasn’t a carpool waiting for me.”