Q: I regularly drive the 5 Freeway, and at about the Jeffrey Road exit there is a new bridge that looks like a bridge to nowhere. Can you explain what this major project is?
– David Mitchell, Tustin
A: That is the beginnings of the Jeffrey Open Space Trail Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge.
Construction began a year ago on the 1,200-foot-long crossing that will allow users to trundle above the freeway, a storm drain, a Caltrans park-and-ride lot and Walnut Avenue.
“It will help provide a key linkage between trails that extend from the Pacific Ocean all the way up to the Santa Ana Mountains and Cleveland National Forest,” Linda Fontes, a spokesperson for the city of Irvine, told Honk in an email, adding that part of the trail itself still must be finished. “Due to the project’s complexity and its location over a busy freeway, the bridge’s concrete structure will be poured in five phases.”
The bridge will include 40 custom decorative light poles and landscaping. It will cost an estimated $23.3 million, with $14.5 million provided by the state.
Linda shares Honk’s passion for fun facts. She told him:
• About 900,000 pounds of rebar will be used that, if laid out end-to-end, would extend more than 83 miles.
• Foundations have been installed as deep as 56 feet.
• To walk the bridge at a moderate pace will take four to five minutes.
Q: Honk: The other day, several other drivers and I were buzzing along at nearly 80 mph on the 405 Freeway in Orange County. A Highway Patrolman was standing next to his car, with his radar gun pointed at oncoming traffic. He was parked up against the center divider, inside the Express Lanes. His car was pointed in the same direction as traffic, but to join the regular freeway lanes he would have to overcome the white barriers separating the 405 Express Lanes. Would he actually jump into his car to chase down offenders? Does the gun have a technology that can capture license-plate numbers? Or is it just to say, “Drive carefully. … We’re out there watching”?
– Jeff Lashower, Long Beach
A: Honk went to Duane Graham, an officer and spokesman out of the Westminster station, which patrols that stretch, for answers.
“The officer mentioned in the (question) was more than likely monitoring speed within the Express Lanes, as he would not (want) to cross the white delineators to stop a vehicle traveling within the main line,” Graham said in an email.
There could have been an officer downstream who would pull over the offender, too.
The officer was likely using radar, which deploys radio waves and doesn’t differentiate vehicles if they are in a pack, or lidar, which relies on laser light and can pinpoint a car, truck or motorcycle.
“The radar, or lidar, does not have technologies that record license plates,” Graham explained. “However, we do have patrol vehicles equipped with LPR (license plate readers) that are constantly scanning license plates.”
Patrol cars outfitted with those devices warn officers as they drive about when they spot license-plate numbers of reported stolen vehicles, or maybe of one carrying a wanted person.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk
