City OKs Synchronizing El Toro Traffic LIghts

The commute on El Toro Road may soon get a whole lot easier.

The City Council agreed on a plan Monday night that would synchronize signals along one of the city's busiest streets.

The three Mission Viejo intersections scheduled for changes are at El Toro and Wandering Trails, El Toro and Painted Trails,  and El Toro and Marguerite/Saddleback Church.

The Orange County Transportation Authority project will involve 39 intersections on El Toro Road from Live Oak Canyon Road to Laguna Canyon Road.

Part of a plan to synchronize more than 533 intersections along 10 of the busiest thoroughfares in the county, the program covers about 11 miles of El Toro Road. The synchronization is expected to be implemented by fall.

Funds for the El Toro Road Traffic Light Synchronization Program come from Measure M and Proposition 1B.

The project includes intersections in Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Aliso Viejo and Laguna Beach.

Other Business

The City Council approved a plan to replace lights in and around City Hall with more energy-efficient bulbs.

Under the plan, city workers will also replace yellow incandescent lights in traffic signals with light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

According to a staff report, Mission Viejo received $876,000 in grant funds from the Department of Energy in October 2009 for a solar-panel system on the roof of City Hall.

The staff projects that the system, which is currently running, will save $28,000 to $30,000 annually in energy costs.  

The money spent or reserved for the program is $669,355; the leftover funds, $204,645, will help pay for the new lighting plan.

To read the text of the agenda click here.

The next City Council meeting takes place Feb. 7, with the open session at 6 p.m. in council chambers at 200 Civic Center Drive.