Traffic, Traffic, It’s Always About Traffic

We all know that traffic is a part of living in southern California.   But it seems as of late, living in Mission Viejo and/or Laguna Hills has had a continued frustration as the 5 continues to back up near Oso just about any time of day.  Morning, noon or night, a not-so-quick, easy to frustrate backup builds.

The OC Register reports that the Transit Officials have taken note and are ready to push plans to remedy the situation forward or “fast track” them to see progress sooner. 

The numbers of cars that trek through the area are staggering.  The Register noted: 

Traffic on the I-5 near the El Toro “Y” now reaches nearly 350,000 vehicles a day and is expected to jump to 460,000 vehicles a day.

The El Toro intersection is well-organized and handles the flow fairly well (or as well as it can handling over a quarter million cars a day).  But the bigger problem seems to the the Oso exit and it’s twisty, curvy, topsy, turvy exit and entrance ramps. 

As far as the plans and their details:

The construction plans – funded by a $24 million Caltrans grant in June – include adding a southbound auxiliary lane in advance of the southbound off-ramp at Oso, widening the southbound off-ramp to Oso from one to two lanes and widening the ramp lanes from three to four lanes. Construction will start in September and conclude by fall 2011, officials said.

Here is a map courtesy of the OC Register noting where the changes will be made.

So with such expedited plans expect to see a little congestion and the frustration to mount for the next, well, 2 years I suppose.  The good news is that there will be one less “hot spot” for traffic to complain about.