Congestion Study for Southern Orange County
South Orange County will get a $1.2 million study that will attempt to alleviate congestion on Interstate 5 from north of the El Toro Y to San Clemente. Officials are now focusing on this stretch of the freeway because it has proven to be extremely dangerous over the years as the site of numerous accidents, including a particularly tragic one earlier this month that killed three young children. The children died when the minivan they were riding in was rear-ended by a big-rig loaded with electronic equipment.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times , this will be the first major transportation study in 20 years in South Orange County, a surprising fact given the burgeoning population of Orange County. The constant stop-and-go traffic along that particular stretch of freeway increases the potential for rear-end accidents such as the one that occurred earlier this month.
The population in South Orange County has more than doubled in about 25 years. According to the Times, 205,000 people lived in the area in 1980. Now the area is populated by more than half a million.
This exponential growth is not unique to the area in question—it is found in many counties throughout California.
The number of accidents in South Orange County suggests that this transportation study is long overdue, but the situation is not unique to the area. Transportation planners have struggled for years to maintain the capacity of California’s freeways and interstates to handle the increased traffic caused by the massive influx of new residents to our state. Poor roadway design is also to blame in some instances.
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