Traffic is always considered one of the biggest issues for residents whenever a poll is taken in Orange County. Newport-Mesa residents are no different. Recently the Orange County Transportation Authority had three local meetings to get input from residents on seven solutions for the traffic problem along Newport Boulevard.
The transportation authority was looking to shed some light on solving the problem, but in the end I think they just got a lot more heat. Discussing traffic solutions just isn’t done in polite company. It’s too emotional. Everyone wants to find a solution, unless they think it might negatively affect them.
Some history on the topic: The last approved plan, which would significantly increase capacity from the 55 terminus at 19th Street to the beach, was in 1985 when California’s population was less than 26 million.
By 2010, we will be approaching 40 million. That plan extended the 55 freeway just east of Newport Boulevard, bulldozing homes and businesses along the route. Lucky for us it was never built, or we would have another scar running though Costa Mesa dividing our town.
The traffic on Newport Boulevard is at a complete standstill on any summer day with people coming and going to the beach. These motorists that block the street are not just from Orange County. More and more are coming from the booming Inland Empire.
The 55 is the backbone between the beach and the 909 area code, and that doesn’t count the 5 million out-of-town visitors from Disneyland who want to cool off in the blue Pacific.
One thing to understand is that even though they are driving to Newport Beach, their final destination is not always Newport Beach; it’s Huntington Beach.
Huntington Beach has 10 miles of wide sandy beaches with available parking almost the whole length. It draws more than 11 million visitors a year, and a large percentage of them come via Newport Boulevard and the 55. This traffic problem will get a lot worse before it gets better.
We need to figure out how to get cars from the 55 to Huntington Beach without going down Newport Boulevard.
One obvious way would be to have a bridge at 19th Street connecting us with Brookhurst Street’s direct shot to the beach.
Though this may move a lot of cars off Newport Boulevard it sends a chill down the spine of some Eastside residents who are leery of any plan they feel will bring more cut-through traffic to their neighborhood.
A bridge on 19th Street is one of those plans. You also have some Westside residents who would rather drive a circuitous six-mile route to Huntington than have a bridge if they thought it might bring one more car though their neighborhood.
I am not advocating any of these ideas and do not know whether they would solve the traffic problem created by a freeway that ends abruptly in the middle of a city.
Of the seven solutions that OCTA presented, the preferred solution by those at the meeting, was called “cut and cover.” This plan involves building express lanes under Newport Boulevard from the end of the 55 to Industrial Way.
The disruption from digging up the street would be disastrous for some of the businesses along the route. Expect them to fight it.
The guesstimate of a $100 million price is mind boggling. But in the end it may be the best solution.
Transporting people to and from the beach isn’t really a traffic problem; it’s a political problem. That is why, 23 years after a plan was approved to solve a traffic problem, nothing has really been done.
You see, it’s very hard to get elected to City Council if you upset any one constituency. Elected officials in both Newport, Costa Mesa and for that matter Huntington Beach have been kicking the can down the road for years on solutions for the beach traffic problem.
The problem with these types of issues is they take several election cycles to get solved. Even if a council can agree on a solution, environmental impact reports take years. Planning and design take years and lining up funding takes more years.
No matter what plan you come up with, someone is not going to be happy. Unhappy people vote council members out of office. So the problem never really gets solved because you cannot keep a majority on a city council long enough to finish the project.
Unless all sides can come together and agree on a plan, nothing will ever get done. It’s time for all sides to hold hands, compromise and agree on a plan. This is one issue that has to be solved sooner than later.
No comments:
Post a Comment