Everyone knows that traffic is a problem in Lake Forest. More people complain about traffic in Lake Forest than any of the other cities that are surveyed by True North, the same company that surveys our city every two years. And everyone knows that traffic has been getting worse in most parts of the City, and we all know that the addition of 40,000 new vehicle trips every day that will accompany the 5,000 new homes is going to overwhelm the City. So it’s not surprising that politicians like Scott Voigts and Dwight Robinson promised to set up a traffic commission to help solve these problems. The troubling question is why did they promise and then vote against this?
Their solution, which is a page out of the novel “1984”, was to create a series of traffic forums, and tell everyone what the City is doing so that people will see the light and be pleased with the good work that is being done. Why create a Commission when the City’s record is so good in this area? Why spend the money on a Commission when it isn’t needed?
The sad fact, of course, is that the City’s record is poor, not good, and the money they spent on the traffic forums, well in excess of $10,000 in one month, is more than they would have spent on a Commission in a year.
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How bad is the City’s record?
After 10 years the City still does not have our traffic lights synchronized.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
After 10 years of promises, we still don’t have the Portola extension.
One of our intersections was just named one of the top 6 worst intersections in the county.
Resident complaints about traffic have remained high every time the City is surveyed, and traffic always is among the top complaints.
Over the course of three forums, a few dozen people showed up to complain about traffic in the City. The City did very little to advertise the forums, and many of the people who showed up came as a result of the articles in The Patch and some e-mails that concerned citizens sent out. Nonetheless, more people showed up to complain about traffic than came to Council or Commission meetings concerned with a dog park, the community garden, the mobile park ordinance, or just about any other issue in the past few years with the exception of Village Pond Park, medical marijuana and the opposition to the new homes (Brookfield, Trumark, Portola).
Many people in attendance were looking at the big picture and even more were worried about what was going on in their own area. Very few over the three forums had much good to report about the City’s efforts.
GENERAL CONCERNS
No unified and comprehensive plan that makes sense
The City has set the bar so low that they keep complementing themselves for doing a good job which might otherwise be considered poor.
Some concern about Corruption at the City Council level
No idea what the General Impact of 5,000 new homes will have on traffic.
No idea about the Specific impact of 4,000+ new kids on the 3 schools where these kids are slated to go.
Questionable validity of the traffic "model"
Poor communication with the residents, especially no advance notice of construction
Marginalization of certain parts of the City, especially Foothill and Portola.
Need for better coordination with neighboring cities
Too much commercial traffic on residential streets (e.g., Serrano, Lake Forest Drive)
Changes in speed limit signs which are not clearly seen and which seem to change for no apparent reason (esp. Jeronimo, Ridge Rte. and El Toro).
Access to commercial centers is difficult in some areas (e.g. entering shopping center at Muirlands and Lake Forest Dr. from Muirlands going North; going from Arbors across the street to Petco shopping center)
The specific concerns were in a few areas – Congestion, Schools, and Traffic Light Synchronization.
CONGESTION
Backups at El Toro (esp. Raymond and Rockfield)
Congestion on El Toro below Rockfield
Traffic congestion to and from the 5 Freeway.
40% to 50% increase in population in Foothill/Portola area will bring thousands of newcomers into City which will flood main arteries.
TRAFFIC LIGHT SYNCHRONIZATION
Lack of synchronization on North/South streets
Failure of synchronization system when cars enter from side streets.
Failure of synchronization system when pedestrian use crosswalks.
SCHOOLS
Dangerous traffic congestion around schools when children are being dropped off and picked up.
Danger to school children who are walking around these areas.
Need “no turn on red light” around schools to protect school children
Need to enforce 25 mph around schools
MISCELLANEOUS
Speeding traffic on Muirlands makes it difficult to merge onto Muirlands.
Noise (especially from motorcycles)
City staff needs to respond in a reasonable time (within 48 hours) when notified of a problem.
Failure to complete Portola Extension
Failure to complete the 241 toll road
Speed bumps on Killy.
Problems with turning lanes (e.g., Town Center Dr. and Alton, Portola and 241, Bake and Trabuco) and lack of dedicated right turn lanes in general.
That’s a lot of complaints and concerns, and bear in mind, most of the time spent at the forums was spent by staff telling the residents what a good job they were doing. That being said, the staff did a good job making the people comfortable, were conscientious in taking notes, and generally managed to do a good job summarizing people’s remarks.
Next time we’ll focus on solutions.
