Becerra, Alexis
From: Dee Aguirre <
Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2026 7: 45 AM
To: eComment
Subject: PUBLIC COMMENT— Standard & McFadden Road Diet Traffic/ Raitt Street Improvements
Attention: This email originated from outside of City of Santa Ana. Use caution when opening attachments or links.
Mayor Amezcua and Members of the Santa Ana City Council, Please accept the following as a formal public comment regarding the existing Standard Avenue/ McFadden Avenue roadway changes and the proposed Raitt Street Improvements.
I recently saw the September 17, 2026 Notice of Construction regarding the upcoming Raitt Street Improvements.
Seeing this notice immediately concerned me because residents in southeast Santa Ana have already experienced firsthand what happens when major streets are redesigned and vehicle capacity is reduced.
The Standard Avenue and McFadden Avenue projects affecting our area date back to transportation plans from 2019 and included road diets and bicycle infrastructure. I did not live at my current residence when these projects were originally proposed. Had I lived here at that time and received notice that the City planned to reduce vehicle lanes on these heavily traveled streets, I absolutely would have voiced my concerns before construction began.
I have also heard from other residents who say they do not recall receiving adequate notice or having a meaningful opportunity to provide input before these changes were implemented. I cannot personally verify what notice every household received, so I am asking the City to provide the public record showing when residents were notified, how they were notified, what public meetings or hearings were held, and what opportunities residents had to provide feedback before the Standard Avenue and McFadden Avenue projects were approved.
We are now living with the consequences.
During peak evening hours, particularly after 5: 00 p. m., traffic in our area can be extremely congested. I routinely have to leave approximately 20 minutes earlier simply to account for the additional traffic. Getting into and out of our neighborhood has become unnecessarily difficult. Residents should not feel trapped in their own neighborhood because traffic on the surrounding streets has become so congested.
Santa Ana is a densely populated city. Reducing vehicle capacity on major streets has real consequences for the thousands of residents who rely on these roads every day to commute to work, return home, take their children to school, attend appointments and conduct their daily lives.
What concerns me now is that the City appears prepared to implement similar roadway changes in another part of Santa Ana. According to the September 17, 2026 notice, a contract of approximately$ 7. 8 million has been awarded for the Raitt Street Improvements. Before the City spends millions of dollars implementing another roadway redesign, I strongly urge the City Council to examine what has already happened in southeast Santa Ana.
Instead of repeating this approach elsewhere, I am asking the City to determine whether these funds, or other available transportation and infrastructure funds, can be redirected toward correcting the problems created by the previous roadway redesigns in southeast Santa Ana.
Specifically, I am asking the City to evaluate restoring Standard Avenue and McFadden Avenue to two vehicle travel lanes where lanes were previously removed, while repairing and resurfacing the roadway itself. 1 From the perspective of residents who use these streets every day, what these roads needed was basic infrastructure maintenance/ repair the pavement, fill the potholes and maintain the streets. They did not need a redesign that reduced vehicle capacity and contributed to significantly greater congestion.
I am also requesting the before- and- after traffic studies for Standard Avenue and McFadden Avenue. What happened to vehicle travel times, intersection delays, traffic volume and neighborhood cut-through traffic after the lane reductions were implemented? If those studies have been completed, residents deserve access to that information.
I support making streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. However, those goals should not require ignoring the transportation needs of residents or creating severe congestion on major streets.
Residents in northern Santa Ana now have an opportunity to see what has happened in southeast Santa Ana and voice their concerns before similar construction occurs in their neighborhoods. Residents of southeast Santa Ana deserved that same meaningful opportunity, and we deserve answers about the consequences we are experiencing today.
Before Santa Ana spends millions of dollars creating another project that could produce similar consequences elsewhere, please address the problems residents are already experiencing in southeast Santa Ana. Fix what is not working before repeating it in another neighborhood.
If restoring the previous lane configuration on Standard Avenue and McFadden Avenue is not feasible, I respectfully request that the City explain why, provide the traffic data supporting that determination, and explain what the City intends to do to alleviate the congestion the current configuration has created.
I respectfully request a written response from the City Council and Public Works Agency addressing these concerns.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Diana Aguirre
Southeast Santa Ana Resident
Standard Avenue/ McFadden Avenue
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