Ortega Highway at a crossroads

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 12, 2005 10:29 PM PST ∞

LAKE ELSINORE ---- When men with shovels and horse-drawn earthmovers began carving a twisting mountain road out of an Indian foot trail in 1917, they weren't thinking about Riverside County commuters driving to Orange County jobs.

Close to a century later, however, that road between Lake Elsinore and San Juan Capistrano is figuring prominently in emerging plans to deliver relief to one of the nation's busiest commuter routes.

Ortega Highway, as it is affectionately ---- and in some cases not so affectionately ---- known in these parts, is mentioned in two of three possible prescriptions under study for healing chronically congested Highway 91.

If Ortega, a section of Highway 74, were widened to four lanes, traffic consultants say it would divert as many as 36,000 cars off Highway 91, which is severely congested through Corona and Anaheim Hills. Today, Ortega carries about 12,000 vehicles daily.

By comparison, Highway 91 carries about 280,000 cars a day at the Riverside-Orange county line, a figure that is expected to swell to 420,000 by 2030.

Ortega wasn't always that well used. According to Caltrans records, the mountain road carried a mere 200 cars in the early 1930s, when the first pavement was laid and it was christened the Elsinore-San Juan Capistrano Highway to the Sea.

Caltrans officials say the original purpose of the black ribbon that loops and meanders through the rumpled brown and green quilt of the Cleveland National Forest was to provide a way for surfers to reach Orange County beaches and for water skiers to reach Lake Elsinore. It still serves that purpose today. Ortega Highway also is popular with motorcyclists looking for a breathtaking weekend ride.

It wasn't until the last decade or so, though, that commuters discovered the 30-mile-long highway in large numbers. Thousands now use it as a shortcut to jobs in Orange County, or just to avoid the stress of crawling through Corona on the 91.

Expensive options
The road's transformation prompted the Riverside County Transportation Commission and Orange County Transportation Authority to consider a retooled Ortega as one of several potential fixes for Highway 91.

The boards also are studying such options as building a new highway across the Cleveland National Forest from south Corona to Irvine and an elevated highway north of and parallel to the 91 through Corona. A preferred mix of solutions is expected to be named this Friday.

All the projects under study would cost in the billions.

In the case of the Ortega option, transportation planners say it would cost $4.6 billion to squeeze four lanes out of the highway's existing footprint, which meanders through narrow canyons, past picturesque waterfalls, alongside gurgling streams and beneath groves of shady oak trees.

Because of the exorbitant price tag, officials also are exploring the idea of putting the new lanes in an eight-mile-long tunnel on the Riverside County end of the highway. Officials say that would shave the cost to $3.2 billion. The lanes would skirt the north side of Lake Elsinore and tie into Interstate 15 at Lake Street.

Even if the transportation boards gave Ortega the green light, construction would be years ---- perhaps more than a decade ---- away. Officials say finding the cash to launch such a monumental undertaking would be a daunting task, to say nothing of the difficulty of steering around political hazards that lie around the corner.

While there is growing support among Riverside County officials and commuters for widening Ortega, fierce opposition is emerging among environmental groups and in the swanky communities of south Orange County. Some commuters say it would make more sense to build a new highway farther north.

"Leave the Ortega the way it is and build another road," suggests Mike Keller, who drives the mountain road each weekday on a 50-mile commute from the Tuscany Hills area of Lake Elsinore to his Lake Forest job. "It is a very winding road. They're going to throw billions of dollars down a rat hole if they try to widen it."

Interim safety project
Keller also opposes an entirely separate project. That is the California Department of Transportation's $27 million plan to add shoulders where there aren't any and widen narrow lanes from 10 feet to the standard 12 feet through a stretch of Ortega in Orange County. Caltrans officials say the targeted 3-mile section is one of the state's most dangerous and has more than its share of fatal accidents. It needs to be made safer, they say.

Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster agrees. He supports the project that could get under way next summer and take three years to complete. Caltrans says motorists can expect up to half-hour delays during construction, which would take place during the day but not rush hour.

"Even though it doesn't add lanes, it adds a huge margin of safety for motorists," Buster said.

On the other hand, Lake Elsinore Councilman Thomas Buckley suggests the interim project is too much trouble for what it's worth. Buckley said delays would disrupt commerce and traffic in his city, while not making the road that much safer.

Keller insists the road doesn't need to be safer.

"People here are spoiled," he said. "They expect a street lamp every 100 yards, lighting their way."

It's not that hard to find one's way.

"It's scary the first time you drive it, I'll grant you that," Keller said. "But after a while, you get to know every turn. I know exactly when I can drink my coffee. I know that on 'this straightaway' I can get two sips."

When it comes to the regular drivers, Keller says they are as courteous as commuters come.

"I've never had anybody throw on their brakes," he said. "I've never had anybody give me the finger."

Ortega Highway commuters have a reputation for tailgating, Keller said, but the people who complain about that don't understand the culture of the highway.

"People tighten it up to keep you from passing, and unless you are paying attention you aren't going to understand that," he said.

That makes the road safer, he contends, because impatient commuters aren't able to dart in and out of line. Once a driver figures that out, he or she can relax and enjoy the scenery.

"In the mornings, it's a lovely drive," he said, citing the views of snowcapped mountains. "You can see San Jacinto. You can see San Gorgonio. I mean, it's beautiful."

Losing its charm
Then, there are the groves of giant, century-old oaks.

"If you were to widen Ortega, those would be torn out," Keller said. "You don't get to see too many oak trees in Southern California. Heck, you don't get to see too many trees, period, in Southern California."

Keller's hardly the only one concerned.

"That has always been a scenic route," said Louisa Dixon, who commutes over the Ortega from Lake Elsinore to Irvine. "And if it was widened, it would lose some of its charm."

But the project manager for a medical-device manufacturing firm said if experts determine Ortega is needed they can build it in a way that is sensitive to the environment.

Supervisor Buster, who supports both the safety project and turning Ortega into a four-lane highway, said improvements don't have to ruin canyons, creeks and ridges. Besides, he said, building two lanes would be a lot less intrusive than bulldozing a path for six lanes, as would occur with an entirely new highway.

Buster added that improvements are needed on several routes, not just one, to "spread out" traffic.

"That's especially important from a regional disaster standpoint," he said. "If the 91 is cut off, you would have a potential alternate route."

Not all commuters
Some south Orange County officials say it doesn't make sense to pour money into multiple routes.

Gary Thompson, a Rancho Santa Margarita councilman, said the counties are going to have a tough time finding money for just one, as it is.

"They need to really concentrate on where (the money) is going to do the most good," Thompson said. "Based on the current studies, it doesn't look like you're going to gain that much with Ortega."

He said it would be better to pour billions into a new highway that could accommodate well more than 100,000 vehicles.

Bill Huber, assistant city manager for San Juan Capistrano, said Ortega's western terminus at Interstate 5 is far south of Orange County employment centers and any plan to improve the highway should shift commuter traffic north. In short, officials in the city named for the famous historic mission don't want two more lanes of traffic snaking through their town.

Buster, however, suggests Orange County officials have a distorted picture of who is driving Ortega. It's not all Riverside County commuters, he said.

"If Orange County doesn't want Ortega to go to four lanes, then I suggest that in the morning rush hour, we turn the highway into two lanes going into Orange County and that in the afternoon we turn it into two lanes going back into Riverside County," Buster said. "Those officials would find out very fast how many of their constituents depend on that highway as well."

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or ddowney@californian.com.