Feb. 18--Newport Beach's plan to reduce traffic congestion along East Coast Highway in Corona del Mar is -- excuse the metaphor -- slowly moving forward.
During peak traffic hours, the thoroughfare experiences bottlenecks heading west toward Fashion Island and the freeways, and east toward Newport Coast and Crystal Cove.
Residents have longed pushed the city to come up with a solution.
In August 2014, Councilman Ed Selich floated a concept that would divert drivers from CdM to alternate streets. The so-called CdM Bypass Traffic Management Plan would use traditional and digital signs to update commuters on drive times and aid in moving cars from more-congested areas to less-traveled streets.
Plan supporters had hoped to use Newport Center development fees for projects allowed by 2014's Measure Y to fund the traffic measures, but the ballot measure failed.
"It was my goal to implement it when Measure Y passed," Selich said, "but because it didn't pass, [the plan] kind of died."
City staff, along with council members Keith Curry, Scott Peotter and Selich, told the Corona del Mar Residents Assn. on Thursday morning that an updated version of the plan is in the works but that funding sources need to be identified before the city can move forward. Costs are unclear.
Selich suggested looking to new housing developments in Newport Center to identify how public benefit fees could fund the traffic bypass.
The updated plan would divert cars that would normally drive through CdM to MacArthur Boulevard via Newport Coast Drive and San Joaquin Hills Road or the 73 Toll Road. It also shows traffic being diverted to Fashion Island via MacArthur Boulevard and San Joaquin Hills Road instead of along East Coast Highway, where traffic can back up, doubling travel time.
It typically takes about six minutes to drive the roughly 3.5 miles on East Coast Highway from Newport Coast Drive to MacArthur Boulevard in typical traffic, according to city data.
Using San Joaquin Hills Road as an alternative would shave travel time, Selich said.
"During the same time when traffic is backed up in Corona del Mar, you could shoot a cannon down San Joaquin Hills Road," he said.
The cost to drive on the 73 Toll Road also may deter some drivers from using Newport Coast Drive, officials say.
Peotter, the city's representative on the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency board of directors, said there have been discussions about reducing the toll in the Newport Coast area, which is more than $3 each way.
"They're losing potential ratepayers," he said. "The idea would be to lower the rate and increase revenue to the toll road."
