Motorists passing through Santa Ana, Tustin and Irvine on the 55 freeway may wonder when construction will end as they continue to confront traffic jams and irregular route closures.
Local transit officials say motorists could see relief in traffic in coming years.
But critics of this kind of road spending argue such relief won’t last long.
Construction along 4 miles of SR-55 – between the 405 and 5 freeways – will expand the freeway by a regular lane and a carpool lane in each direction, alongside structural changes to accommodate expansion.
The project’s intention is to improve travel times through central Orange County, according to Eric Carpenter, communications specialist with the Orange County Transportation Authority.
The freeway and surrounding streets will remain under construction until 2027.
The project is part of ongoing efforts by local and state agencies to widen one of Southern California’s most heavily congested freeways, and other freeways in the county.
[Read: What’s With All the Construction on the I-5 Freeway Across South OC?]
More than 260,000 cars drive the freeway daily – and the number is growing.
Motorists using the freeway are expected to grow by nearly 15,000 a year, with as many as 275,000 by 2040.
Yet local academics say this kind of road expansion only reduces traffic temporarily.
Within weeks or months of the expansion, residents will sit in the same amount of traffic congestion as before.
“If you build more lanes and more capacity on the freeway, the idea is that people will shift their mode, route or time of travel until that new capacity gets filled,” said Dr. Geoff Boeing, assistant professor in the University of Southern California’s Department of Urban Planning and Spatial Analysis.
“The current level of traffic congestion is at this sort of equilibrium where it’s no longer worth it for people to make that trip to save time, but if you add more lanes, it will eventually fill until the exact same equilibrium gets hit again, and people face those same delays.”
Transportation studies show that expansion projects can improve traffic for a few months, or up to a year, and ultimately encourages more automobile use, according to Dr. Alejandra Reyes, a professor of urban planning and public policy at the University of California, Irvine.
“These expansions just sort of incentivize us to use our cars more if we own them, and it also takes away from investing in other types of infrastructure, like public transit,” said Reyes.
Residents exiting the freeway will confront more construction on surrounding streets – including the narrowing of some routes and the addition of sidewalks.
Road shoulders on Pullman St. from MacArthur Blvd.to Duryea Ave., and Ritchey St. from the Warner bridge to St. Andrew Pl., are being narrowed by 8 to 10 feet.
Lane widths are unchanged at the standard 12 feet, according to Carpenter.
Other streets were moved directionally. Cowan St. was shifted east to accommodate the realignment of the northbound MacArthur off-ramp.
Known today as the Costa Mesa Freeway, the route was first added to the state’s highway system in 1931 as an extension of Legislative Route 43.
Construction of the four-lane highway concluded in 1962. In the late ‘80s, the highway stretched into Costa Mesa’s 19th street, providing a direct connection between the coast and central Orange County.
Boeing says that the car-centric structure of roads in LA and Orange County disincentivizes residents from walking or biking.
“It’s a real missed opportunity to not let all those people who are stuck in cars have at least the option, the freedom of choice, to be able to switch to an active mode of transportation when so many people who would like to bike or walk just don’t feel safe doing so on our streets, and it’s just one more car on the road because of that,” he said.
Toll roads and increased multi-modal transportation – biking, walking, taking the bus or train in addition to driving – can be solutions to traffic congestion.
Freeway expansion also has caused the displacement of working class communities across the region historically.
“Certain communities have benefited more than others, while others have borne more of the costs, environmental costs, noise pollution costs, time delay costs,” said Boeing.
Environmentally, larger freeways contribute to increased particulate matter emissions – air pollution from tailpipe emissions, rubber tire dust and brake dust.
“Those impacts are really born by lower income, often immigrant and usually minority communities for the sake of suburban transportation to job centers.”
Further Expansion of the 55 Freeway Is on the Horizon
Motorists will continue to face traffic as expansion of the freeway continues next year.
Construction between the I-5 and SR-91 will begin in 2026, adding more lanes between the I-5 and SR-22 along with modifications to on-and off-ramps in Orange and Anaheim.
Erika Taylor is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow and photojournalist. You can find her on Instagram @camerakeepsrolling or email at etaylor@voiceofoc.org
