Q: Dear Honk: Occasionally, and seemingly randomly, Disney employees cone off the left lane of northbound Disneyland Drive just north of Ball Road. This forces cars to merge to one lane. I have encountered this many times, and I can’t imagine what is the logic behind it. Sometimes, the northbound traffic backs up all of the way to Magic Way. The lane closure is very short, but impedes access to the 5 Freeway onramps and also causes dangerous maneuvers by drivers trying to get on the freeway. Can you explain it to me, because I am baffled!
– Kenneth Rosen, Tarzana
A: “It’s a great question and observation by your reader,” Mike Lyster, a spokesman for the city of Anaheim, told Honk in an email. “The temporary lane closure is designed to address the very issues brought up in the question about merging traffic and access to the 5 Freeway.”
Disney, with the city’s OK, closes the lane “for short but critical periods,” Lyster said.
The goal is to get many more people on their way in a safer fashion than if the cones weren’t plopped out there, Lyster said, with less overall merging.
Blocking it off lets those leaving Disney’s parking lots to take a bridge over Disneyland Drive and flow onto the 5. That bridge runs adjacent to the street before joining the lane — so the cones reduce the conflict of merging there.
The city does a somewhat similar version of this at Angel Stadium and at the Honda Center — some traffic lights get more green time so patrons of those venues can scoot out. Meanwhile, the much smaller number of motorists on the side streets could be staring at a long red to allow the procession to cruise by.
Otherwise, the New York Yankees could get back home before Southern California fans who attended a ball game.
“We thank everyone who encounters this for their patience,” Lyster said. “And while managing any large flow of traffic will always have its challenges, there are traffic-flow and safety benefits to the practice.”
Q: Dear Mr. Honk: The project to underground the overhead power lines, add a bike lane and adjust the lanes on Laguna Canyon Road from El Toro Road to the 73 Toll Road seems to be in perpetual construction — without the construction part. For the last two, three years, workers have mostly just moved K-rail around to flip traffic from one side of the road to the other with some occasional night work — and long periods of inactivity. When will workers complete this project and relieve the northbound traffic bottleneck?
– Vernon Weisman, Orange
A: Four years in, the project is to be completed by the end of the year, said Nathan Abler, a Caltrans spokesman.
Then, new vegetation will be added and allowed to grow — that will take a decade to fully mature.
Now, the project is with Southern California Edison, which is putting the utility lines beneath the ground. The agency did pause its work after the Los Angeles County fires earlier this year took its attention north.
“To a driver, it may look like there has been little-to-no progress because the majority of work is being done at night behind K-rail,” Abler said in an email. “The one-mile project is expected to be turned back to Caltrans at the end of April or early May. Once Caltrans resumes control of the project, our contractor will complete the paving of the extension of the second lane and re-stripe the lanes.”
There’s been serious talk of other Laguna Canyon Road improvements that would cost way more — this current chunk of work has a $17.3 million price tag.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk