The Marguerite Tennis Center Capital Improvement Project is underway with demolition of the existing clubhouse on Tuesday, making way for a new, larger facility to serve the community.

The capital improvement project, which will improve the aging facility for the people of all ages its serves, started last week and is expected to be finished by summer 2012.

The improvements call for eliminating one tennis court to make way for a new entrance to the Tennis Center and Aquatics Center. The small parking lot next to Marguerite Parkway will be demolished and replaced by a picnic and gathering area. The facility will have natural seating in the hillside overlooking the courts and a new parking lot that will accommodate more vehicles. The improvements include a turnaround at the plaza entrance and the ability to enter and exit the parking lot from Casta Del Sol, adding more safety features to the facility. Two new tennis courts will be added and new lighting will replace the 40-year-old lighting.

The work will limit activity at the center located at 23840 Marguerite Parkway to recreational play only. All organized leagues, lessons, clinics, and programs will be moved to the Felipe Tennis Center and the Montanoso and Sierra Recreation Centers. For more information, call 949-859-4348 ext. 4.

The City will begin resurfacing streets Monday as part of a project that will extend the life of and improve more than 160 Mission Viejo streets.

The roughly $5 million project, fueled by Gas Tax and Measure M funds, will resurface all public residential streets between La Paz Road and Los Alisos Boulevard, east of Marguerite Parkway. The work is expected to be finished in October.

General project notices were mailed to residents earlier this month alerting them of the upcoming work. Most of the work requires streets to be posted as “no parking.” However, “no parking” signs simply mean cars should not be parked on the street. They do not mean the street will be closed. Streets will only be closed on the day they are resurfaced, and residents will receive a special door-hanger notice two days in advance of the closure.

In an effort to keep the public informed, the City has posted detailed project information, including proposed resurfacing dates, at www.cityofmissionviejo.org.

The City will begin making asphalt repairs Monday as part of a street resurfacing project that will help extend the life of and improve more than 160 Mission Viejo streets.

The roughly $5 million project, fueled by Gas Tax and Measure M funds, will resurface all public residential streets between La Paz Road and Los Alisos Boulevard, east of Marguerite Parkway.

The asphalt repair work entails patching poor sections of pavement and sealing cracks in anticipation of the resurfacing work that begins Aug. 15.

The City’s contractor will mail residents general project notices in the next week or so and post door-hanger notices in neighborhoods two days before streets are closed for resurfacing. During repairs, “no parking” signs will be posted, but streets will remain open to traffic. A street will be closed to traffic only on the day it is resurfaced. Motorists can expect some short traffic delays during the project.

In an effort to keep the public informed, the City will post project information and maps at www.cityofmissionviejo.org before Aug. 15.

One of the last legs of work on the Oso/Marguerite Intersection Improvement Project starts Monday with roadway repaving. To accommodate large daytime traffic volumes, roadways will be paved over four consecutive nights, specifically Oso Parkway from Pacific Hills to Country Club and Marguerite Parkway from Claro to Via Angelina.

The project, which has been competed in phases to lessen the impacts to motorists and maintain pedestrian access, widens both Oso Parkway and Marguerite Parkway near the intersection to provide additional lanes and increase traffic flow.

Though the work will take place at night to lessen traffic impacts, its noise could affect surrounding residents. To ease any inconvenience to residents, the City has worked with the contractor to extend working shifts to overlap work phases to minimize the number of nights the work will take place.

In the coming weeks, the final stretch of night work on the traffic-easing project will include striping, replacing traffic signal detector loops and such. However, noise from this work should not disrupt surrounding neighborhoods.

For more information, contact Project Manager Manny Barrios at 949-470-8485.

The City will receive more than $6.6 million in competitive grant funding from the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) for two traffic-easing projects – the widening of Oso Parkway from the I-5 freeway to Country Club Drive and the widening of La Paz Road from Chrisanta Drive to Muirlands. 

The OCTA Board of Directors approved the funding on Monday. The Oso Parkway widening project will receive about $3.9 million to add a fourth travel lane in each direction from the I-5 freeway to Country Club Drive.  

La Paz Road will receive approximately $2.7 million to widen the road from four to six lanes between Chrisanta Drive and Muirlands Blvd.

Construction on La Paz Road is expected to begin in early 2012, with construction on Oso Parkway slated to start in late 2012-early 2013.

OCTA received approximately $92.8 in funding requests from 22 Orange County agencies.  Only $55.6 million in grant funding was available for this grant program from Measure M2, the half-cent sales tax approved by Orange County voters in 2006. Mission Viejo’s application for Oso Parkway was the 5th highest ranked application in the county, while the grant application for La Paz Road was ranked the 15th highest out of the 64 grant applications OCTA received.

According to OCTA, Measure M2 is expected to generate roughly $15 billion over the next 30 years to reduce traffic congestion, strengthen the local economy and improve the county’s quality of life by upgrading key freeways, fixing major freeway interchanges, maintaining streets and roads, synchronizing traffic signals countywide, building a visionary rail-transit system, and protecting the environment from street runoff that pollutes Orange County beaches.

Mission Viejo and Laguna Niguel are joining forces on a traffic-easing project to widen eastbound Crown Valley Parkway between Forbes Road and the northbound Interstate 5 on-ramp.  The City of Laguna Niguel is the lead agency on the project, which will help to reduce traffic congestion around the Crown Valley Parkway/I-5 interchange. Construction is expected to begin July 5 and be completed by the end of 2012.

The project will add another thru-lane to connect the existing fourth thru-lane west of Forbes with the existing fourth thru-lane east of the northbound I-5 ramps.  It will also add a “freeway only” right-turn lane from just east of Forbes to the I-5 southbound on-ramp.  That will improve traffic flow and reduce congestion by keeping vehicles heading for the freeway out of the thru-lanes.  Other improvements include provisions for future dual left-turn lanes for westbound Crown Valley Parkway to southbound Forbes, a new shoulder for westbound Crown Valley Parkway across the freeway, and a new designated right-turn lane for westbound Crown Valley Parkway to northbound Forbes.

Most work will take place during the day, but work involving significant traffic impacts will be performed at night.

The first week of work entails crews shifting lanes on Interstate 5 and placing K-rail on Crown Valley to establish construction zones.

The project is expected to cost around $11 million. The lion’s share of the project – $6 million – will be split between the cities, with an OCTA Measure M grant covering almost $5 million. Mission Viejo’s $3 million share will come from a combination of Crown Valley Corridor Development Fees and the City’s Community Development Agency funds.

Work is expected to begin this weekend on the La Paz Road/I-5 Improvement Project, which is designed to improve traffic flow along La Paz Road and improve access on and off the I-5 freeway.

Starting Sunday, the northbound I-5 freeway on-ramp from eastbound La Paz Road will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. for one week. Lane closures will also take place during the same night hours on eastbound La Paz in front of the Union 76 car wash at the I-5 freeway.  This work is part of the first phase of construction. 

The project will be done in four phases to minimize traffic impacts on the area, and most of the construction will take place during off-peak hours at night. Other ramps will be closed occasionally to accommodate future phases of construction.

The City of Laguna Hills is the lead agency on the project that includes Caltrans and Mission Viejo as partners.

The project, which is expected to be finished in June 2012, calls for widening La Paz Road at the I-5 freeway from around Cabot Road to Muirlands Boulevard in Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo. The goal is to improve traffic along La Paz Road to the I-5 freeway. With high volumes of traffic most times of the day, La Paz Road is a major roadway in Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo.

For more information, call 949-707-2650 or e-mail info@lapazroad.com.

Work is expected to begin next month on the La Paz Road/I-5 Improvement Project, which is designed to improve traffic flow along La Paz Road and improve access on and off the I-5 freeway.

The City of Laguna Hills is the lead agency on the project that includes Caltrans and Mission Viejo as project partners.

The project, which is expected to be completed in April 2012, calls for widening La Paz Road at the I-5 from approximately Cabot Road to Muirlands Boulevard in the cities of Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo. The goal is to improve traffic along La Paz Road to the I-5. La Paz Road is a major roadway in Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo with high volumes of traffic most times of the day.

The project will be done in four stages to minimize traffic impacts on the area, and most construction will take place during off-peak hours at night. The interchange ramps will be closed on occasion to accommodate the work. In an effort to inform motorists, Mission Viejo Public Works staff is working with Laguna Hills to place changeable message boards at strategic locations to inform motorists of the closures.

For more information click here.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has resumed work on the Oso Parkway, I-5 Freeway interchange improvement project, which was halted last year while the agency dealt with the relocation of a high-pressure gas line.

Two lanes on a stretch of westbound Oso Parkway from Cabot Road and the northbound I-5 Freeway will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday while crews bring in equipment to complete the last phase of the project.

That last phase calls for widening Oso Parkway lanes over the railroad tracks. Caltrans will begin widening the north side of the Oso Parkway railroad overcrossing bridge.  Freeway ramp closures will be required during different stages of construction. 

For more information about the project, call 1-800-724-0353 or visit http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist12/.

Work continues to take place at the intersection of Oso and Marguerite parkways as part of a project designed to ease traffic at the busy intersection.

The project, which is being done in phases to lessen the impacts to motorists and maintain pedestrian access, calls for widening both Oso Parkway and Marguerite Parkway near the intersection to provide additional lanes and increase traffic flow.

The phases are designated by each of the four intersection quadrants – northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest. The final improvement phase includes median work.

The project has been progressing on time and schedule, with grading and utility relocation work and other improvements finished at some of the quadrants in the summer and early fall. Utility relocation work, which started in October and will be finished next month, is currently taking place at the southeast and northwest quadrants. The remaining phases are expected to take place as follows:

*    Jan-Feb. 2011: Complete roadway improvements-southeast quadrant, northwest quadrant.
*    March-May 2011: Utility relocations; complete roadway improvements – northeast quadrant.
*    June-Aug. 2011: Median modifications and pavement overlay.

When completed, the traffic-easing project will provide dual left-turn lanes in all directions, designated right-turn lanes in both directions of Marguerite Parkway and an additional through lane in each direction of Oso Parkway.

For more information and construction updates, visit the City’s website at www.cityofmissionviejo.org or call 949-470-8485.