Ortega overdue for upgrade

Motorists will have to deal with three years of slowed traffic as Caltrans works to make a stretch safer.

By RYAN HAMMILL and HEATHER IGNATIN

The Orange County Register

After traveling back and forth for most of his life along Ortega Highway between his home in Rancho Capistrano and work in Newport Beach, Cliff Geddis would sometimes worry about the sharp, steep curves along the road.

But now, with road work coming next week, his worries have turned to another thought: Traffic delays could leave thousands of motorists crawling across the county line each day.

The California Department of Transportation on Tuesday begins its first major upgrades to Ortega (74) Highway since it was built in the 1930s.

The winding road, a key corridor between Riverside and Orange counties, carries more than 9,000 cars a day.

The $40 million project on a 3.3-mile stretch from San Juan Creek Bridge to the Riverside County line is particularly dangerous – claiming the lives of at least nine people since 2001, according to state records.

Caltrans officials say they are doing all they can to notify the public, even holding a community forum Tuesday in San Juan Capistrano.

"We are urging them to use alternative routes," said Pam Gorniak, spokeswoman for Caltrans in Orange County. "They need to understand what time constraints they have and make any adjustments to their travel."

The bulk of the road work will take place during nighttime hours, with the highway completely shut down from 8:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., six to seven days a week, until 2010.

During the rest of the day, traffic will share one lane – with priority given to westbound traffic in the morning and eastbound traffic in the evening.

Many residents, commuters and business owners along the route contend the project will be a tremendous hardship in time and money.

"I don’t know how businesses like mine are going to make it," said Tyler Paulson, owner of Hell’s Kitchen, a motor-sport themed restaurant and bar popular with motorcycle enthusiasts. It sits off the highway in El Cariso Village.

Paulson estimates he could lose up to 80 percent of his business during the project, with possible losses into the millions of dollars.

"The businesses up here rely on the weekend traffic to stay open," Paulson said. "People come up the mountain to get away and decompress, but who will do that if they have to wait an hour-and-a-half in traffic?"

With Ortega one of the last stretches of uninterrupted highway in the county, the blow is especially hard for his motorcyclist clientele who rumble in caravans along the road’s curves, Paulson said.

While iconic stops such as Hell’s Kitchen and the Ortega Country Cottage Candy Store rely on hikers and visitor traffic, other businesses worry about simple access.

Steve Welch, owner of Steve Welch Dog Training, bought a parcel in El Cariso for space to train police and service dogs. He worries about splitting his time between houses there and in Lake Forest, coupled with late hours coming back from private clients.

"I go back and forth from Orange County three or four times a day," Welch said. "If I have to go around to the back through Lake Elsinore, that’s adding an hour or two to an 11- or 12-hour day."

Not all drivers are as worried about delays.

"It may add 20 minutes or so to what I’m already driving, which is a little annoying," said Bob Timm, a contractor from Murrieta who drives Ortega to work in Irvine.

"If it comes down to taking the 91 (Riverside Freeway), I’ll just make sure I’m on it by 5 to beat the traffic coming in. I’m leaving at a quarter to 5 already."

Recognition of the obvious safety issues on the road tempers some drivers’ frustration with the upcoming delays, but only to a degree in the eyes of many residents along the path.

"Yes, the highway can be dangerous and certainly needs improvement," Geddis said. "But I don’t think that Caltrans has fully considered their impact on the residents of the community, as well as the commuters that use the road daily."

Contact the writer: rhammill@ocregister.com or hignatin@ocregister.com, 949-454-7361 or 949-454-7335

Source:http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/county/article_1581795.php