School district, city plan new road

Marisa O’Neil

Traffic problems plaguing Newport Coast Elementary School parents and

nearby residents have led city and school district leaders to join

forces to fix the problem.

Newport Beach and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District plan to

pave over an existing dirt fire road that runs from northbound

Newport Coast Drive to the school’s parking lot to alleviate the

traffic concerns.

It’s needed, because the school’s enrollment doubled since it

opened in 2001, city engineers said. Current enrollment stands at

about 600 with another 100 expected next year, PTA President Shana

Woodyard said.

“We were concerned because people are jaywalking, cars are coming

from different directions, there’s construction trucks flying down

the road, and there’s only one entrance and exit for everyone to

use,” she said.

Currently, parents dropping off and picking up their children can

enter only from Ridge Park Road, which causes a great deal of

congestion on that street and Newport Coast Drive, city engineer Bill

Patapoff said. Traffic at the school’s entrance has been an issue

since it first opened, and police notified the city of the problem.

“The police department recognized the need to alleviate the

traffic pattern because of inadequate parking and the number of cars

coming down the roadway and clogging it,” Newport Beach Police Sgt.

Steve Shulman said. “It is hazardous for pedestrians, the elementary

students.”

Vehicles can generate a great deal of speed down Ridge Park Road’s

hill, he said. Parents dropping off children across from the school

and on Newport Coast Drive were compounding the problem, he said.

The one-way road will take traffic from northbound Newport Coast

Drive, loop around the school’s athletic fields and empty out in

front of the school. Vehicles will exit onto Ridge Park Road.

“Busses can drive on site and disembark and embark their children

where it’s much safer, then continue forward,” Mayor Tod Rigeway

said.

The project has been sent out to bid, Patapoff said, and the

Public Works Department is recommending the city award a contract for

the work. The Newport Beach City Council is due to vote on it Tuesday

at its meeting.

If the City Council approves the proposal, work will start in July

and should be near completion by the time school starts in September,

Patapoff said.

School district trustees last week approved a reimbursement

agreement with the city to build the road. City officials originally

approached the district last year about finding a solution to the

increased traffic, said Paul Reed, assistant superintendent for

business services for the district.

Though the road will be on school property, it will be a city

project, Reed said.

“Traffic is out of the purview of the district,” he said. “It’s

not something we would have done. We don’t pretend to be traffic

engineers.”

Some local residents have expressed concern about a new road

creating increased noise in the area.

Part of the loop road comes close to homes in the Tesoro gated

community behind the school, but is separated by a drainage bumper

and landscaping, Patapoff said. The road will be accessible only

during school drop-off and pick-up times, he said, and a gate will

prevent access at other times.

Tesoro resident Deborah O’Connor said she worries about increased

traffic and pollution behind her home. Her daughter attends Newport

Coast, but she said the new road won’t solve the problems.

“The traffic problem and safety issues stem from children and

parents crossing [the street] in front of their cars,” she said.

Families who live north of the school in communities like Newport

Ridge, she said, won’t want to make a U-turn at Ridge Park Road to

access the entrance. That will mean more jaywalking and more hazards,

she said.

“Parents are so concerned in the morning about getting their kids

to school on time,” she said. “If it involves driving further and

waiting at another signal, they won’t do it.”

City officials will discuss the road at tonight’s meeting of the

Newport Coast Advisory Committee.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].