VILLA PARK ORANGE : Long-Opposed Road Under Construction

Construction now underway on a 1.6-mile road that will offer an alternative to the Riverside-Costa Mesa freeway interchange marks the end of a long battle by residents of the hillside neighborhoods affected.

The residents, who formed Residents Opposed to Arterial Roads, “did everything we could do,” said Mary Wright, an organizer who protested the construction at numerous Orange City Council public hearings. Her Villa Park home faces the project site.

“It was so quiet and pastoral, and I’m so angry because there’s nothing I can do about it now,” Wright said. “I don’t like to see progress, I guess.”

But Orange City Engineer Gary Johnson said the road, which will link Imperial Highway in Anaheim Hills with Loma Street in Orange, “is needed. It’s an integral part of the arterial system in our area. It’s going to be a benefit to Orange and Villa Park in terms of traffic. So we’re committed to providing this additional transportation artery.”

The road is expected to become a major north-south highway capable of handling 35,000 vehicles a day, according to Johnson.

The $9.7-million cost is being paid by Southern California Edison Co., which owns the land, under terms of a 20-year-old agreement with Orange, said Edison’s area manager, Pat Buttress.

Project manager Khan Pathan said that tennis courts, soccer fields, a horse trail and a jogging trail will also be developed.

“When we’re done, the land will look nice. I think the residents will like it. It’s all being done at no cost to them.”

But Villa Park residents fear that the road will bring smog, noise and visual pollution, reduce property values and disturb the wildlife and ecological balance of the quiet hills. Many opposed the project for 10 years before it got final approval in 1985.

They also fear that commuters will turn onto two-lane Taft Avenue, the first street along the highway that cuts through the city.

While the connection isn’t expected to be completed until May, 1994, city officials said they are studying whether to turn the east end of Taft Avenue, which ends at Loma Street, into a cul-de-sac, make it a one-way street or prevent turns from the highway.

Still, Villa Park resident Lee Barbour said he will miss the hooting of the owls, the quail calls and the deer who made the hills their home. “I think we’re going to get a tremendous amount of traffic through our city that will change all our lifestyles, but that’s progress,” he said.