91 Freeway ramp experiment ends at Corona’s Green River Road after 3 days of backups

Letting two cars drive onto the 91 Freeway at Corona’s Green River Road for each green on-ramp light seemed like a good idea.

But after the experiment snarled traffic and confused motorists a third straight day this week on Wednesday, Oct. 3, transportation officials decided to end their test two days early.

On the mornings of Thursday, Oct. 4, and Friday, Oct. 5, Caltrans will turn the Green River ramp signals off, agency spokeswoman Terri Kasinga said.

“It’s going to go dark,” she said. “The two vehicle-per-green didn’t go so well.”

Then, on Monday, Oct. 8, the signals will come back on and allow one car to proceed per green light, as is the normal pattern, she said.

Caltrans, the city of Corona and Riverside County Transportation Commission have been experimenting and gathering data in recent weeks to determine if there is a way to tweak the ramp meters to make westbound traffic entering the freeway at Green River move better in the morning.

Dennis Ralls, Corona’s public works program manager, was out monitoring the traffic. Things were especially bad Tuesday, he said, but officials hoped the flow would improve Wednesday as motorists began to acclimate to the idea.

But Ralls said the delays were just as bad Wednesday — if not worse.

Ned Ibrahim, a civil engineer who advises a local commuter group and formerly served as Corona’s assistant public works director, said he agrees the experiment was going so badly it needed to be shut down.

But, he said, “in my eyes, the two cars per green is still an option.”

Ibrahim said Caltrans ought to draw up a plan for a follow-up exercise, one that involves an extensive outreach campaign to commuters in advance so they are not caught off guard — as they were this week.