Readers' Choice: RSM's Worst Traffic Spots

Yaaawn. That seemed to be the reaction of the community when it came to traffic trouble spots in Rancho Santa Margarita.

With an opportunity to point its city leaders to spots that need attention to improve the daily commute, the community seemed to be pretty apathetic. Plenty of people looked at the poll that began running on Tuesday, yet few thought enough of it to actually vote.

There was for the top vote-getters though, a roundabout in a parking lot and not-a-through-street that is the sole way in and out of a high school.

Tesoro High, which is in Las Flores and not Rancho Santa Margarita, is situated in a valley off Oso Parkway. And once you turn onto Tesoro Creek Road, you're stuck; there is no legal turnaround unless you go all the way to the school. If you have turned onto the road before school or after it lets out—particularly the latter—you're toast. Traffic backs up and it can be aggravating to play the waiting game for cars to cycle through.

The roundabout in the Empresa Center ran a close second. Maybe it's because roundabouts aren't common enough in the area, but it turns out that people tend to ignore veering right and circling around to the proper exit, but instead cut a few yards off their journey by going left because—and you'd learn this if you went to Tesoro High—the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

The Tesoro road earned 28 percent of the votes cast, the roundabout earned 25.

Santa Margarita Parkway and Las Flores, which features three left-turn lanes from Las Flores to westbound Santa Margarita Parkway, was third in the voting with 17 percent.

Only 39 votes were cast—hey, where's your democratic spirit?—and only six votes separated Tesoro Creek from Antonio and Banderas, which had 12 percent of the votes and finished fourth.

Bill Lawson, the city traffic engineer for RSM, said that people's perception of bad traffic is based on how much it affects them. Sunday church traffic on Via Con Dios would likely get the votes of residents there, and those who live near Trabuco Mesa Park would claim their traffic is the worst during youth sports.

But, if you're really looking for the worst traffic in town, there's usually a pretty easy way to figure out what places to avoid: Schools during dropoff and pickup.