Countywide : HUNTINGTON BEACH : 300 Residents Protest Bridge Proposals

About 300 residents at a City Council meeting this week protested the possible construction of two bridges over the Santa Ana River. One bridge would connect Banning Avenue with 19th Street in Costa Mesa; the second would link Garfield Avenue, which borders Fountain Valley, with Gisler Avenue in Costa Mesa.

Most of the opposition was aimed at the Banning Avenue-19th Street span in the southeastern part of the city.

Critics claimed that the bridge would sharply increase traffic on their quiet street, making it unsafe for their children to walk to the John H. Eader Elementary School. The traffic would disrupt the tranquillity of their neighborhood and depress property values, they said.

Resident John Scott said that plans for a bridge caused “an overflowing of anger” in the Banning Avenue area. Others urged county staff members to convey that anger to the Board of Supervisors, which is scheduled to consider the projects in December.

Plans for the two bridges, as well as a third one to connect Atlanta Avenue with Wilson Street in Costa Mesa, have been included in the county master plan for arterial highways since 1956.

bridges, years away from construction, have come under scrutiny after Costa Mesa officials asked supervisors to delete them from the master plan.

Plans for the Atlanta-Wilson bridge are being scrapped because a number of homes would be taken to make room for it, officials said.

Robert Peterson, manager for transportation planning for the county Environmental Management Agency, said population growth and increased traffic volume make the bridges more necessary than ever.

Peterson also said the cost for the two remaining bridges is estimated at $29.4 million. Costs to mitigate traffic congestion, if the bridges are not built, will be about $48.3 million, he said.

Without the bridges, he said, traffic would increase on Pacific Coast Highway, Victoria Street, and Adams, Ellis and Talbert avenues. Traffic from Newport Beach would also be affected.

The Banning-19th Street bridge would increase traffic on Banning from 8,000 to more than 20,000 vehicles a day, he said.

The City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the bridge proposals on Nov. 1.

The Newport Beach City Council will hold a study session on the issue Monday at 3 p.m. and Costa Mesa has scheduled a public hearing at 6:30 p.m., also on Monday.