Commute Along 55 Freeway May Soon Be a Crawl

Drivers on the Costa Mesa Freeway are about to see the first major signs of a three-year $118-million construction project designed to improve traffic flow along the notoriously slow-moving corridor.

But progress comes at a price. Motorists can expect traffic delays as workers rebuild the busy Chapman Avenue interchange beginning later this month. The work on Chapman--the busiest street in Orange--will take 10 months to complete and has local business owners and residents worried.

“It’s going to be difficult,” said Hamid Bahadori, an Orange traffic engineer. “We’ve tried to be honest with business owners and residents. But with 64,000 cars a day on that street? Even under normal conditions it is inconvenient.”

Bahadori urges motorists to use alternate routes, such as Yorba and Prospect streets, which run parallel to the freeway.

The payoff, officials said, will come in the form of a smoother-flowing freeway that removes a bottleneck where the Costa Mesa and Garden Grove freeways meet. Currently, the junction is a parking lot during rush hour.

Other work slated to be finished in the next three years includes:

* An added lane for traffic on the 4.8 miles between the Riverside and Garden Grove freeways.

* An expanded median between regular and carpool lanes.

* Improved freeway access at Lincoln and Katella avenues.

For commuters in the county already weary of road projects on the Riverside and Santa Ana freeways, any new construction may come as bad news. And there is more coming. As part of the Costa Mesa Freeway project alone, construction will occur at four major interchanges in the next three months, said the project’s senior engineer Arshad Rashedi.

Rashedi, whose daily commute includes the congested freeway he is working on, said road construction is never ideal.

“You have to live with it in order to get a better commute,” he said.

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Orange County commuters have been living with a lot of it recently. The $1.1-billion widening of the Santa Ana Freeway is just past the halfway point, with more than two years of work remaining. The addition of carpool lanes to the Riverside Freeway won’t be completed until next year.

Caltrans officials said they are trying to make work on the Costa Mesa Freeway as painless as possible, especially in light of the nearby construction on other important arteries.

All lanes on the Costa Mesa will remain open during rush hour, said Caltrans spokeswoman Deborah Harris. In addition, consecutive ramps along the construction zones will not be closed at the same time.

Construction delays won’t end any time soon. Even more roadwork is heading this way including a $150-million improvement on Costa Mesa-San Diego Freeway connector that will begin later this year. Next year, similar work begins on the connector between the San Diego and Corona del Mar freeways.

Transportation officials attribute the flurry of construction to recently available funds as well as a growing need for improvements.

“We have the funding now,” said John Standiford, spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority. “It is our responsibility to get that funding working for people as soon as possible and that has meant trying to coordinate all of these projects at once.”

The Costa Mesa Freeway project is funded largely through state transportation funds, although the $21-million design portion of the project came from Measure M--the half-cent tax passed by voters in 1990 for transportation improvements in the county. With 210,000 cars traveling daily on the road, officials say it has long since surpassed its capacity.

“Those of us who use these exits all the time know this needs to be done,” said Linda Boone, director of economic development for Orange. “We’re just hopeful that loyal customers will put up with the short-term hassle.”

While local business owners agree in theory, they say the reality is harder to stomach.

“We’re definitely concerned about it,” said Jason Osborn, who works at a Mobil gas station on Chapman Avenue near the freeway. “It has already started slowing down.”

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The Drive for a Better 55

Work gets under way in the next few weeks on a three-year, $118 million construction project on the Costa Mesa Freeway designed to ease traffic congestion. When completed in 2002, the 55 Freeway will be expanded to four lanes and one carpool lane in each direction. A look at the project:

FIRST STAGE

Construction dates: March 22 - Mid 2001

La Veta Ave.

Widen overcrossing, add one lane in each direction

22/55 Interchange

Add one lane to eastbound 22 to northbound 55 transition

Additional lane on westbound 22 from 55 to Glassell Ave.

Reconfigure Chapman off-ramp

Source: Caltrans

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SECOND STAGE

Construction dates: March 22 - Early 2002

Walnut Ave.

Widen overcrossing

Chapman Ave.

Reconfigure all on- and off-ramps

Widen undercrossing, add one lane in each direction

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THIRD STAGE

Construction dates: Mid 1999 - Late 2001

Katella Ave.

Add northbound on-ramp

Redesign existing ramps

Collins Ave.

Widen overcrossing

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FINAL STAGE

Construction dates: Mid 1999 - Late 2001

Lincoln Ave.

Reconfigure northbound on- and off-ramps

Widen undercrossing, add one lane in each direction

Meats Ave.

Widen overcrossing, add two lanes in each direction

Taft Ave.

Widen undercrossing

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times