By Brian Park
Caltrans will begin a community outreach campaign starting Monday to assuage any concern San Juan Capistrano businesses and residents may have regarding major construction work on the Interstate 5/Ortega Highway interchange.
Outreach team members will travel door-to-door to local businesses to talk about the project and to pass out informational material.
The $86.2 million project is slated to begin early 2013, according to a news release. The project will rebuild the Ortega Highway bridge over the I-5, construct a new northbound loop on-ramp, reconfigure the northern portion of Del Obispo Street leading to the bridge and apply several changes to existing on- and off-ramps.
In a presentation to the City Council on Tuesday, August 21, Caltrans officials told the city that several road closures are expected. Motorists in San Juan Capistrano will face several early morning closures throughout the course of construction, which is projected to end in the spring of 2015. There will also be full closures of the northern portion of Del Obispo Street, going as far west as El Camino Real, for two separate periods of three and four weeks.
Councilmembers expressed a range of concerns about the project at the meeting.
Councilwoman Laura Freese asked Caltrans officials to do whatever they could to help affected businesses and even suggested the formation of a committee to ensure “the businesses and buildings in town are impacted to the least degree possible.”
“What has me very worried is the businesses. All this is going on near downtown,” Freese said. “You say key businesses. All of our businesses are key businesses.”
Mayor Larry Kramer suggested that Caltrans improve their detours and signage for motorists.
“Those detours are on our city right now, and if I follow them, I’d get nowhere,” Kramer said. “I think whatever signs I’ve seen for detours are pretty poor and not very helpful.”
Councilman Sam Allevato expressed concern over possible delays in response time for emergency responders to the city’s east side. Rick Robinson, local division chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, said that dispatchers are trained to reach out to the quickest possible response teams.
Caltrans will hold monthly business advisory meetings starting November 5 to provide updates and answer questions. The meetings will take place on the first Monday of every month at 9 a.m. at Hidden House Coffee, 31791 Los Rios Street.
Caltrans has also set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account to provide information about the project: facebook.com/ortegainterchangeproject and @OrtegaHighway.
Below is the official news release:
