Session Set on Freeway Widening Project

By 2000, the Santa Ana Freeway here will have two new lanes in each direction, an extended carpool lane and improved overcrossings for cars and pedestrians.

But until then, residents and businesses along the corridor will face disruptions.

With this in mind, the transportation agencies involved in the mammoth I-5 North Improvement Project will meet in Buena Park tonight to answer questions.

Officials with Caltrans and the Orange County Transportation Authority will gather near JC Penney in the upper-level center court of Buena Park Mall from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for the informational session. The mall is at La Palma and Stanton avenues, near Beach Boulevard. Signs inside the mall will direct visitors to the meeting.

Residents and business owners near the freeway in Orange, Buena Park, Fullerton and Anaheim will be affected by the freeway improvements, said project spokesperson Anne Bowman.

The $1.1-billion project to widen and improve the freeway is being funded with money from Measure M, the half-cent sales tax approved by Orange County voters in 1990. The improvements will lengthen merge lanes and increase the number of cars the road can handle.

“It will just be a better freeway,” Bowman said.

Work has started on the interchange of the Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Orange freeways, and construction workers will be moving northward toward the county line as the decade ends.

During the four years of construction, ramps will be closed for various periods and the freeway itself will close from midnight to 5 a.m. at some points, Bowman said.

At today’s session, officials will describe construction schedules and give residents some idea of how disruptions will be handled.