YORBA LINDA : City Unhappy With ‘Super-Street’ Name

A “super-street” by any other name probably will have an easier time being accepted by residents whose town it intersects.

At least that is what several members of the Yorba Linda City Council said when they were considering a list of street improvements that included the Imperial Highway super-street project.

The council objected to the term super-street when applied to the improvements planned for Imperial Highway.

Super-street is a label by the Orange County Transportation Authority for a group of projects involving major thoroughfares around the county. The projects include street widening, synchronization of traffic signals, bus stop pull-outs and other changes the authority hopes will improve traffic flow.

But according to Councilman Mark Schwing, super-street conjures up images of an eight-lane freeway, with block walls on either side and traffic rushing along at 55-plus m.p.h. And while he doesn’t oppose the project planned for Yorba Linda’s portion of Imperial Highway, he wouldn’t mind if the OCTA came up with a new term.

“I don’t have a problem with the name personally, but if a different name helps people understand the project, I’d be in favor of it,” Schwing said.

In Yorba Linda, the original proposal included widening portions of Imperial Highway to eight lanes. The council rejected the plan in favor of six lanes through a portion of town.

According to Lisa Mills, director of planning and development for the Transportation Authority, similar concerns have arisen in other communities where the projects are planned.

“This is not a new issue,” Mills said. “After the Beach Boulevard project, we did a study to determine if the name creates more problems than we need.”

A citizens advisory group initially decided the super-street label should stay, but recently the committee developed a list of alternative names, from which the term smart street has emerged as the likely choice if a change is made.