Costa Mesa Ca Transportation

Business owner Randy Garell wants to find some humor in the continuing construction on Newport Boulevard that has hit his and other stores on the street almost harder than the economy. A sign posted at his business, the Grant Boys, Thursday suggests that the best way to avoid the traffic hassles caused by the construction is to arrive by helicopter. "We've been bracing ourselves for months now, but the reality is hard to take," Garell said.

The city will hear public comments today on a proposal to restructure parking in the Balboa Peninsula's commercial area in an effort to make it more pedestrian-friendly. The first part of the plan would eliminate six metered parking spaces from Main Street, leaving intact the three-minute parking zone in front of the post office and the commercial loading zone at the Balboa Pavilion. If approved, the plan would include removing some of the trees on Main Street as well.

A traffic bottleneck should be eased today as state transportation officials reopen a section of southbound Newport Boulevard that had been limited to one lane for construction work on the Costa Mesa Freeway. Authorities said all three southbound lanes were to be open by 5 a.m. between Victoria and 19th streets. In recent months, a flood of cars from the freeway had combined with traffic headed south on Newport Boulevard to create monumental tie-ups where the road funneled down to just one lane.

As one of this city's founding fathers and a councilman for 16 years, Robert M. Wilson is intimately familiar with "the ditch." Wilson watched with pleasure in the mid-1970s as lumbering bulldozers began slicing the deep chasm in the earth that would be necessary to allow the Costa Mesa Freeway to reach the sea. He grimaced when state money dried up and the earth movers fled, leaving the ditch to the weeds and the field mice.

The good news is that three of the city's major street repair jobs are finished. The bad news is that three more still need to be completed. Since January, residents have endured traffic jams, closed streets and detours as nearly every major thoroughfare in town undergoes extensive repairs. As of this month, half of the rehabilitation projects have been completed, making it smooth sailing on Adams Avenue, Victoria Street and Fairview Road.

Overnight parking outside two mobile home parks on Old Newport Boulevard was restricted last week in response to complaints from merchants and residents who said people were sleeping in their cars. The City Council banned parking between 15th and 17th streets from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. Residents of the El Nido and Snug Harbor trailer parks who obtain permits may still park overnight. Passes will be available for guests of park residents.

Developers will install a traffic signal at the entrance to the new Metro Pointe Shopping Center under construction on South Coast Drive, despite opposition from residents who live nearby. Residents of the Greenbrook neighborhood complained about the signal, saying it would be too close to Greenbrook Drive and create safety problems by causing traffic backups that would block access to South Coast Drive.

The Planning Commission tonight will consider approving four-way stop signs at Baker and Labrador streets. Citizens have complained about motorists traveling at excessive speeds through the intersection, and this is not the first time the city has contemplated installing stop signs there. In 1987 and 1991, the city's Transportation Commission, after reviewing traffic accidents in the area, concluded that there were not enough of them to warrant the stop signs.

Responding to pleas from business owners along Newport Boulevard, the city recently agreed to install $5,000 worth of signs telling drivers that the businesses are still open during construction. The signs add to the steps store owners have taken since construction began in September, including offering coupons, special sales, delivery service and other promotions. Still, they say the construction, coupled with the downturn in the economy, has hit their businesses extra hard this winter.