Eastside slated for face-lift improvements
City planners told Eastside Costa Mesa residents this week that their neighborhood is getting a major face-lift.
Funded through gas tax and Measure M returns, dozens of the area’s residential streets will have their cracks sealed, bumps and dips leveled, and sidewalks redone.
More than $8 million in improvements to streets and pavement is scheduled through 2013, of which than $6.3 million in work is scheduled from July to January.
“The point of this program is to repair what’s there,” said city Public Services Director Ernesto Munoz.
The city will start with sidewalks, curbs and gutters, then move on to repaving busy streets like Orange and Santa Ana avenues before finishing up with slurry seals — a method used to smooth over pocked and cracked asphalt.
Costa Mesa is also spending $1.4 million in grant and Measure M money on creating a safe walking route for kids along Broadway between Newport Boulevard and Irvine Avenue. That project will last until December and install sidewalks, drought-resistant landscaping and speed-reducing measures.
In addition, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa will spend about $700,000 to improve a median on Irvine Avenue and rehabilitate 15th Street off Old Newport Boulevard.
In the spring of 2013, Costa Mesa will put $750,000, two-thirds of which is grant money, toward East 17th Street median improvements.
City officials said they will give Eastside residents up to 72 hours notice before they begin work. The projects are part of a major push by the council to upgrade the city’s infrastructure after years of dwindling investment because of the recession.
Twitter: @JosephSerna