Q. Hi Honk: I recently drove through Taft Avenue and Cambridge Street in Orange and noticed that on eastbound Taft, just before Cambridge, there are large green stripes in the bike lane. Can you say what they are for?
– Dale Kenny, Orange
A. They grabbed your attention, eh?
Then they are doing their job, Dale.
“The green markings are intended to emphasize the presence of cyclists on a roadway,” Charlene Cheng, a spokesperson for the city, told Honk in an email. “Their installation on Taft, at potential conflict zones, (for example) where turning traffic and bicycle traffic might interact, raises motorist and bicycle awareness.”
Honk hasn’t seen a lot of these markings, but colored bike lanes have been deployed around the country for years.
Q. Last week the Orange County toll road agency that has an office in Irvine charged me $20 for the switchable transponder, not $15 as you mentioned for the 405 Express Lanes in your most recent column. I am talking about the agency that has the office off of Barranca Parkway near the Spectrum. I was hoping to beat the possible rush to get a switchable transponder for the 405. It will be interesting to see what is said about the price difference.
– Larry Gunther, Irvine
A. In the words of The Miracles, “You better shop around.”
Or at least you can.
All of the state’s tollways use the same FasTrak transponder system — so if you get the sticker version like Honk did from the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which run the 73, 133, 241 and 261 toll roads, you can use it on those highways or to even take the Golden Gate Bridge.
Now, on some tollway stretches, such as on the 405 Express Lanes when they open up on Dec. 1, a switchable transponder — which allows you to say there are others aboard so you get a discount or a free pass — are a good thing to carry.
The prices, as Larry mentioned, are not the same everywhere for the devices.
“While FasTrak is accepted state-wide for toll payment, toll agencies in California are independent of each other and offer different payment options and discounts, as well as different costs for account maintenance, transponders and stickers,” explained Michele Miller, a spokesperson for the TCA, the group that charged Larry 20 bucks for his switchable transponder.
The switchables don’t help with discounts on TCA’s toll roads, but the agency still sells them as a courtesy for use on other systems.
The sticker transponders, by the way, are free in Orange County.
Q. Hi Honk: For those of us playing along at home, I see great progress on the widening of Avery Parkway at the 5 Freeway in south Orange County. Can you, please, recap when the project was proposed and approved, when construction began and tell us if it will be done on schedule?
– Mike Jasiewicz, Laguna Niguel
A. Not sure when some engineer started pondering this project, but it was approved in 2006 by Orange County voters who agreed to continue paying a half-cent sales tax to push along a new slate of transportation improvements.
The final design work was finished in mid-2019, said Eric Carpenter, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority. The first dirt was turned in March 2020.
“The work around Avery was originally scheduled to be completed by late 2024, and the project is still on track to meet that timeline,” he said.
That interchange will double the number of lanes and offer larger sidewalks. It is among the $580 million in improvements underway for 6.5 miles along the 5 that Honk recently told the inhabitants of Honkland about.
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. X, formerly Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk
