City Seeks Funds For Ortega Highway Widening

The City of San Juan Capistrano is looking for money to widen the Ortega Highway from two lanes to four where it bottlenecks on the east end of its town.

Litigation prevented the stretch between Calle Entradera and San Juan Capistrano's eastern city limits from being widened when the highway was widened a few years ago. But the lawsuit -- with the City of San Juan Capistrano and the Hunt Club homeowners on one side and Caltrans on the other -- is now settled, and the city is looking for the funds to address this section of the Ortega Highway, which often clogs up with westbound traffic during the morning rush hour.

On the San Juan Capistrano City Council agenda Tuesday is a resolution seeking $1.05 million in grant money from the Orange County Transportation Authority. Another $450,000 would come from the developer of Rancho Mission Viejo.

The grant money would come from Measure M, the half-cent sales tax Orange County shoppers pay.

The project would include a traffic signal at Via Cordova, an extra lane of traffic in each direction, 5-foot shoulders on both sides of the road and a 12-foot median, according to city documents.

As part of the resolution, the project is put on the city’s plans for major projects to undertake between 2013 and 2019.

Construction on the Ortega in San Juan Capistrano is already underway on a separate $86 million project. Click here to read about it. Click here to read about a meeting scheduled Feb. 11 in Wildomar designed to answer commuters' concerns about upcoming closures on the Ortega.

The San Juan Capistrano City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 32400 Paseo Adelanto.