New Pico Interchange Recommendation Could Be Safer, Save Businesses

The Orange County Transportation Authority may bulldoze Carrows Restaurant and the adjacent gas station on Pico Avenue to make way for a new I-5 interchange.

But the San Clemente City Council on Tuesday suggested an alternative plan to the agency, one that council members and some residents say will preserve the businesses and be safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

The OCTA on March 15 solicited comments from the council stating the city’s preference for the design of the interchange: either a partial cloverleaf option that would require the seizure of more private property to build, or a reconfiguration of the current on- and off-ramp design that would still improve traffic flow.

The council in March chose the partial cloverleaf design because it would reduce wait times for motorists getting on the highway, but Councilman Bob Baker subsequently asked his colleagues to reconsider.

Brenda Miller, a bicycling advocate, said the intersection between the proposed cloverleaf ramps and the westbound lanes of Pico was dangerous to cyclists, who would have to weave in and out of vehicles that were changing lanes to get onto the I-5 at the stoplight.

Furthermore, she said, the crosswalk was too long and would be dangerous to pedestrians—dozens of whom use the crosswalks every day on the way to San Clemente High School. 

The council voted unanimously to abandon its recommendation of the cloverleaf design in favor of the diamond design, similar to what is now in use at the intersection.

The interchange project is still in its infancy, however, and the OCTA and California Department of Transportation could still choose the cloverleaf design.

An OCTA official at the meeting said, however, that the agencies would take the city’s recommendation seriously.