Looks like we will have another interesting night at the City Council. Apart from the usual business items we have several traffic and parking related issues.
EXTEND OLD TRABUCO ROAD?
For those of you who are unaware there is an extension of Trabuco Road that was closed down years ago and the street turned into a cul-de-sac. This has been done about 10 times in the City, and in almost every case, traffic problems were created as a result. For one thing, the normal flow of traffic is disrupted and we often see an increase in traffic as a result, all of which leads to congestion. Sometimes there is also an inconvenience to people who use that street, as is the case here. People who use the church at the corner of Old Trabuco Rd and Lake Forest Drive are asking that the City open up the now closed extension so that people wishing to go to and from the church will not have to enter and exit only onto Lake Forest Dr which is heavily congested, and instead have the option of avoiding the intersection of Trabuco and Lake Forest, one of the busiest in the City.
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This might not only be effective for people who go to and from the church, it might also be a convenient way for anyone on Trabuco Rd. to avoid the busy intersection and go East on Lake Forest Drive buy turning on the newly extended Old Trabuco Rd.
The City estimates that the cost would be “between $1.5 – 2.0 million dollars” for the extension. Not mentioned in the staff report is the impact on the people who currently live on Old Trabuco Rd. Any changes must take into account their opinions.
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NEW TRAFFIC LIGHT ON LAKE FOREST DRIVE?
The church officials are also asking for a traffic light at the intersection of Lake Forest Drive and Old Trabuco Rd, to allow the cross traffic to go West, which requires crossing over the East bound traffic on Lake Forest Drive. The staff claims that “a traffic signal is currently not warranted”. Staff claims that the wait to cross LF Drive on a typical Sunday is no longer than the wait at other intersections, which can be up to 2 minutes. Staff also notes that a new light would be the fifth traffic light in less than the ½ mile segment from Serrano to Canada.
The costs are estimated at between $250,000 and $350,000.
As an alternative to the light, staff recommends new striping that allows a dedicated right hand turn lane as well as the left/through lane. This would reduce some of the queuing from having a single lane as current.
UPDATE ON BENNETT RANCH-VIEJO WEST PROJECT
During the recent parking project (I’ll talk about that tomorrow), staff also continued to work with the residents of Bennett Ranch on their parking problems. Since Aug 2016 staff
- Extended the parking area along Cherry west of Jeronimo
- Allowed overnight parking on Orange
- Worked with Viejo West HOA to create 15-25 new parking spaces
- Worked with Bennett Ranch-Viejo West to create a Neighborhood Watch Group
According to staff these actions appear to have lessened the problems in the area.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about the Residential Parking Policies and the Parking/Traffic Commission
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be February 25 at the Lake 1 Clubhouse from 2 to 4 pm.
