Traffic Survey Had Mailbox Jammed

The unusually high response rate to a mail-in survey distributed at freeway ramps and other locations last May shows that Orange County motorists strongly desire traffic solutions, officials said Thursday.

But some motorists also wrote comments indicating that they are fed up with money being spent on surveys.

One typical response:

“Enlarge our freeways. Don’t waste our money on surveys.”

Another stated:

“You people just don’t seem to get the message. Why don’t you get off your duffs and build some freeways, for God’s sake. Do you know how many freeway shootings there will be this summer? Lots of them.”

Results of the survey, which asked people about their travel habits, are still being tabulated and will not be available until next month, officials said.

The poll of about 400,000 motorists, distributed at 60 locations throughout the county, drew a 31% mail-in response rate, nearly twice the 15% average rate for similar surveys, according to Norm Wuestfield, vice president of Wilbur Smith Associates, the San Francisco firm that conducted the poll.

“I have been involved with surveys of this kind throughout the world, and I have never seen a response rate this high,” Wuestfield said Thursday at a board meeting of the county’s Transportation Corridor Agencies, which commissioned the survey.

“The high return rate,” said Agencies Executive Director John Meyer, “is a strong statement that motorists want to see a solution to our traffic dilemma.”

Lisa Boutilier, a TCA spokeswoman, said about 125,000 of the 400,000 questionnaires distributed have thus far been returned, many with comments written in.

The transportation officials ordered the survey to glean information on traffic-use patterns on two proposed Orange County toll roads. The study will also result in a demographic profile of motorists expected to use the new highways, and indicate whether the arterials will generate enough toll revenue to repay construction bonds.

“The questionnaire was trip-oriented to help develop these roads to better handle traffic,” TCA spokeswoman Susan Marzec said.

The survey was conducted during the final week of April and the first three weeks of May. Questionnaires were distributed to motorists at on-ramps and off-ramps to the Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, San Diego and Laguna Canyon freeways, as well as at points along Pacific Coast Highway and Newport Boulevard.

Boutilier said the highest rate of return--73%--came from motorists stopped at the southbound exit from the San Diego Freeway at Avery Parkway. The lowest return rate--18%--came from those stopped at northbound exit from the Santa Ana Freeway at Sand Canyon Road.

Recent legislation has authorized the county to build up to three toll roads. The Eastern Corridor would extend from the Riverside Freeway through the hills to the Santa Ana Freeway in East Tustin and East Irvine. The Foothill Corridor would link the Eastern with the San Diego Freeway, through Rancho Santa Margarita, near San Clemente. And the San Joaquin Hills Corridor would run from the Corona del Mar Freeway near UC Irvine to the San Diego Freeway near San Juan Capistrano.