Health & Fitness
BLOG: Traffic impact of Rancho Mission Viejo
How is the traffic from the new Rancho Viejo project going to be handled?
Sendero, the project just north of the intersection of Ortega Highway and Antonio Parkway, is opening this summer with hundreds of homes.
Thousands more will follow in the years ahead; I'm wondering how many people even know that Rancho Mission Viejo is planning to build 14,000 homes over the next two decades.
When I have asked journalists who cover these things (e.g., Penny Arévalo of the SJPatch) to offer us information about just which roads these new home-owners will use, I'm told that it won't be the Ortega (which is not an approved route since it is being rebuilt at the I-5 interchange), but the La Pata extension or the Cow Camp Road, neither which have even been started!
Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Even if by some miracle these roads are "fast-tracked," there will still be nearly 1,000 homes sold in Sendero alone before these roads are completed. The ONLY alternative to the already congested Ortega Highway for those drivers wishing to reach the I-5 will be to travel north on Antonio to Crown Valley Pkwy and go west through Mission Viejo or to continue north to Rancho Santa Margarita and get on the northbound 241 toll road. I'm sure the residents of Ladera Ranch, Mission Viejo and RSM are going to be thrilled with the thousands of additional vehicles clogging their streets!
My hunch is that once the inadequacy of the existing roadways to handle all of this additional traffic "sinks in" to the local residents, then the four mile 241 extension will seem to be an inviting- albeit expensive- option. It seems clear to me that the Rancho Mission Viejo project was developed under the assumption that the 241 would be built and that traffic flow would not be a problem after that road, along with the Cow Camp Road and the La Pata extension to Pico (in San Clemente) were completed.
Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Little did the folks at Rancho Mission Viejo expect such vociferous opposition to even the four-mile extension! This reality remains: Whether we like it or not (and I certainly don't), 14,000 homes are going up-- and we need to have a coherent traffic flow plan in place. The Rancho Mission Viejo Company and our elected officials owe us a meaningful and honest response.