The Connection Between the Costa Mesa Freeway and I-73

From an article in Today’s LA Times on the chronic congestion problems on the Costa Mesa Freeway in Orange County, an Orange County mayor comes so close to figuring out the problem with trying to widen your way out of congestion:

Tustin Mayor Jerry Amante said the traffic on the 55, which cuts through the western part of his city, "is one of the worst bottlenecks in the county."

"We’ve widened and widened and widened . . . over and over again," he said. "It has given us the most capacity we can get, and really, now we’re just tinkering with the margins."

All those road widening projects and still congestion persists.  But don’t worry people of the OC, the Times reports that CALTRANS has the answer:

The state is planning to build three auxiliary lanes in the bottleneck area — a project scheduled to run from 2010 to 2014…

Can someone remind me, what’s the definition of insanity again?

Photo:Bigmikelakers/flickr