Relief Is on the Way for Moulton-El Toro Intersection

Dear Street Smart:

I’m convinced that Orange County traffic planners do not commute! Their latest debacle is the intersection of El Toro Road and Moulton Parkway.

Moulton is used by thousands of South County commuters as a bypass for the El Toro “Y”. The intersection at El Toro Road and Moulton Parkway causes a half-mile backup southbound every day. Some bright traffic planner redesigned the striping at the intersection to add two left-turn lanes from Moulton to eastbound El Toro Road.

I was caught in this mess and examined the problem. The southbound traffic is forced to merge into two lanes. But many of the vehicles in the right-hand lane are making right turns to go west on El Toro Road, effectively funneling through traffic on Moulton Parkway into one solitary lane.

They need two through-traffic lanes and a right-turn lane, or change the striping pattern back to the way it used to be with one left-turn lane.

Tom Szwajkos, Laguna Niguel

So I guess you’re not too happy with the county traffic department, eh? I took your gripes to Steve Hogan, the county’s transportation program division manager, and asked him what in the world can be done.

For starters, Hogan thrust his tongue in cheek and said, “I appreciate the fact he thinks we’re bright!”

Joking aside, Hogan agreed that traversing the El Toro/Moulton intersection has its difficult moments. But relief, he said, is in sight.

First, some history. The lane configuration was switched about five years ago, Hogan said. At the time, there was a big demand for an additional left-turn lane for southbound motorists on Moulton Parkway trying to turn east on El Toro Road. With a single turn lane, cars were queuing up well beyond the turn pocket, effectively blocking some of the through lanes. Thus, the extra turn lane was added.

Since those days, the situation has changed. More streets are available in the area for motorists trying to avoid the El Toro “Y” as they meander south into Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo and other communities. As a result, many drivers make a right turn to reach other roads. Moreover, there has been a marked increase in the number of cars using Moulton Parkway, stirring the caldron of traffic troubles.

Luckily, the county has a project under design that should alleviate many of the existing difficulties, Hogan said.

The project would provide an additional through lane and a special right-turn-only lane on southbound Moulton Parkway, he said. In addition, an existing bottleneck where Moulton Parkway narrows to four lanes between El Toro Road and Glenwood Drive would be expanded to six lanes, he said.

If all goes according to plans, construction will start this summer and be completed by early next year. From the sound of things, that won’t be a moment too soon.

Dear Street Smart:

One of the worst freeway bottlenecks in Orange County is where the Garden Grove Freeway ends at the Costs Mesa Freeway.

The planned Eastern Transportation Corridor (which will parallel the Costa Mesa Freeway) and the Foothill Corridor (which will begin at the Eastern and run south roughly parallel to Interstate 5) will do little to ease this problem.

I think the Foothill Corridor should meet up with the Garden Grove Freeway. My guess is Caltrans planned for this to happen, but was rebuffed by wealthy homeowners in Lemon Heights, Cowan Heights and North Tustin. Why can’t eminent domain work in these wealthy areas as it has (and is currently along the Santa Ana Freeway widening project) in poorer neighborhoods?

The new toll roads may bring a lot more people in from the Inland Empire and strike up new housing near those roads, but they do nothing for most local drivers.

Bob Lowe, Irvine

Wealth does carry its privileges, and this seems to be one of those cases.

In years past, the California Department of Transportation never really planned to extend the Garden Grove Freeway any farther than it goes today, relying instead on Interstate 5 to carry the burden of cars through South County. Indeed, the idea of a route paralleling Interstate 5 only arose in the early 1980s when the Foothill Corridor was proposed, county traffic officials say.

Once the Foothill was put down on the planning maps, authorities began toying with the idea of connecting it with the Garden Grove Freeway. Around mid-decade, the Orange County Transportation Commission began studying the concept, plotting out several potential routes through the wealthy communities.

The idea was scrapped by OCTC when opposition arose. Transportation planners make no bones about it today--the decision not to press ahead hinged in no small part on the political clout wielded by the wealthy mix of doctors, lawyers and other movers and shakers whose neighborhoods would be divided by the highway.

Let’s face it, that sort of decision-making is a political fact of life in this swatch of the world. Wealthy communities carry more political punch than lower-income neighborhoods. They’re also rife with citizens who can take time away from their jobs to fight a pitched battle against a freeway project. Joe Sixpack might find it harder to get the boss to let him off work for such an endeavor.

While no one can blame those well-heeled residents for fighting a freeway extension through their neighborhood, the decision not to connect the Foothill Corridor with the Garden Grove Freeway did alter the shape of other projects. Had the “missing link” been forged between the Garden Grove Freeway and the Foothill Corridor, experts say, it is likely that the Santa Ana Freeway widening project would have been scaled back from its current 12 lanes to something narrower.

Dear Street Smart:

A recent column contained a letter from a real SA (smart aleck). He wrote that he had to SPEED UP because an oncoming car was making a left turn in front of him.

It’s for this breed of SAs that hospitals have ICUs (intensive-care units).

D. Elston, Anaheim

No doubt he’ll get there PDQ. And if another car doesn’t get him, the acronyms surely will.