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Residents in the Newport Heights Area are beginning to wake up to the traffic problems that they will be facing if the City decides to block one end of ongoing traffic on Tustin. They are learning how much the changes in traffic flow on other streets will be impacted as drivers are diverted to alternate routes.
According to a traffic study conducted by the city, neighbors learned that the Tustin closure which greatly decreased its traffic flow from 834 cars to 276 daily, increased the traffic on the only other straight thoroughfare, Riverside, which runs from PCH to 15th street, by 1400 additional cars per week and increased their daily average by 200 more cars per day!
The other end of Tustin which reaches to 17th Street will get no break, pushing their total cars average per day to 2,517! If you are a pedestrian, avoid walking on that street. You would do so to great peril.
Other streets which will see increased traffic from the Tustin closure are Oceanview, Avon, Cliff Drive, Irvine, Redlands—literally all streets running parallel to Tustin will be greatly affected by the closure.
The reasons that Tustin residents give for wanting to close their street are not clear. Some say the street is very narrow, especially when cars are parked on both sides, that partygoers bring a lot of noise to the area, and some council members just said that the reason was because the street was ”unique.”
Actually, every street in the Heights is unique as it is a relatively old area.
But Newport Heights residents should not yet despair. They will have an opportunity to make their concerns known at a Community Meeting on Wednesday evening, June 1. It will take place at the intersection of Tustin at Oveanview at 5:30 p.m.
After the neighborhood meeting there is a plan to place the item on the City Council agenda for the June 28 meeting.
If you have any questions, please contact Tony Brine, City Traffic Engineer, 100 Civic Center Dr. Phone: ( 949) 644 3329.
Lynn Lorenz / Newport Beach
