Traffic may ease without new bridge

It’s too early to tear up plans for a bridge that would connect Gisler Avenue in Costa Mesa with Garfield Avenue in Fountain Valley, but preliminary findings of a study show traffic could be eased without building the bridge.

The proposal for the Santa Ana River bridge, which is in the county’s master transportation plan for the area, has long been a source of concern for Costa Mesa residents, and the City Council has stood firmly against it.

Although Costa Mesa doesn’t want the bridge, Fountain Valley does. A compromise reached in 2004 allowed the Orange County Transportation Authority to study the bridge, with the stipulation that all of the four cities involved ? Huntington Beach and Newport Beach are the others ? must agree before a bridge can be built. As the study has progressed, Costa Mesa residents have repeatedly expressed concern, and earlier this weekresidents around California Street were circulating a petition asking the City Council to restate its opposition to the bridge.

Costa Mesa city officials offered some words of comfort, and the Orange County Transportation Authority added a bit more heartening news.

“Nothing has changed in the city’s position,” City Manager Allan Roeder said Friday. “We’re still opposed to construction of the bridge.”

Although no decisions have been made and the study may not be completed for another two months, preliminary information from the study shows there may be ways to ease traffic without building the bridge, said Kia Mortazavi, planning director for the Orange County Transportation Authority.

“That’s the idea ? can we make some of the surrounding streets work a little better so in total they [the improvements] offset the bridge,” he said. “It shows that it could work, but before going too far we want to know a little bit more and understand a little bit better.”

Potentially, traffic signals on Adams Avenue, Harbor Boulevard and Fairview Drive could be synchronized, and bus turnouts ? bus stops that don’t block traffic ? and turn lanes could be added in those areas.

Bridgeless solutions have been suggested before, but what has changed is the transportation authority’s adoption of plans for major upgrades to the San Diego Freeway (405), Mortazavi said.

Those plans call for adding a lane to the 405 Freeway in each direction from Brookhurst Street to the 605 Freeway. That added capacity, combined with surface-street upgrades, could make a bridge superfluous, said Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor.

“I think this shows that the bridge really is not necessary and there are alternative forms of,” he said.

The transportation authority’s board will get a report on the bridge study at a Monday meeting, with results expected in 60 to 90 days.

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