Drivers shortcut neighborhoods

Tony Pecka is watering his front lawn, trying to talk about speeding drivers taking shortcuts through his neighborhood, but he’s having trouble making himself heard over the roar of traffic.

It’s been like this for some time at the retired firefighter’s home in the 300 block of Broadway Street on Costa Mesa’s eastside.

“A dramatic change occurred when they completed the freeway at 19th Street,” Pecka said. “That wasn’t the plan. It was supposed to go all the way to Coast Highway.”

The result? Drivers, in an effort to skirt congestion on byways such as Newport Boulevard and 17th Street, take detours through side streets, and, hence, neighborhoods.

In response to mounting complaints, Costa Mesa police are using radar data collection and increasing patrols during business hours. Traffic officers believe this will help curb the problem.

“What is atypical about this situation is the 55 Freeway and the impact it has on residential streets,” Pecka said, adding that when local governments construct road extensions or offramps “appropriate plans are made for the impact it will make on the surrounding area,” but that was not done when the 55 was extended years ago.

During a 20-minute period along the 100 block of Rochester Street, more than 50 cars whizzed past a truck displaying their speeds. Most drivers stuck close to the posted speed of 25 mph, while others — mostly heading east from Newport Boulevard — surpassed the limit by 5 to 10 mph.

“I wish there was more police and not just the machine,” resident Lee Denton said, adding the radar device is frequently placed in his block and a motorcycle officer often keeps a watchful eye from a cul-de-sac down the street.

Denton, 40, who has a clear view of the radar device from his driveway, attributed the increase in traffic in front of his home to the 17th Street road-widening project.

Denton acknowledges he uses the side streets — rather than main thoroughfares — as a means of avoiding stop lights, especially those with red-light cameras.

Some residents are not enthusiastic about increased police presence in their neighborhoods.

“On the surface, that sounds OK, but, frankly, an increased police presence isn’t necessarily going to solve our problem since many of the officers I see in our neighborhood are just as big of perpetrators of the problem,” said Josh Boyle, who lives on 16th Street.

Every day, Boyle, 33, embarks on a 15-mile bicycle commute to Lake Forest, beginning on Santa Ana Avenue.

“I see cops blowing through the stop sign all the time,” he said, adding it includes both Newport Beach and Costa Mesa officers.

Hopefully, police will set a better example, he added.