Costa Mesa Unplugged:

Assemblyman Van Tran (R-68th) has never been a guy who shies away from shameless promotion. And so in recent days we’ve had him parading around, blowing party horns and tossing confetti skyward in celebration of his most recent legislative triumph: the signing into law of Assembly Bill 2906.

The brand name is “The Orange County Traffic Relief Act of 2008.” And who wouldn’t favor that?

Well, let’s think about it.

In one sense, Tran deserves some credit. AB 2906 actually repeals a law instead of giving birth to a new one. It dumps a provision in the California Vehicle Code that required a 4-foot buffer zone between carpool lanes and the regular mixed-flow freeway lanes.

Nixing the buffer zone, according to a statement from Tran’s office, “…will be a dramatic benefit to commuters in central Orange County. By eliminating wasteful regulations we are able to add an additional lane to State Route 55 without new construction.”

Now I’ll be the first to admit that navigating the 55 these days can be something like slogging through tar in snow shoes.

But while adding additional lanes by removing the buffer zone may mean happier days for central Orange County motorists, the added capacity may bring even more traffic nightmares to Costa Mesa and probably Newport Beach, too.

Here’s why: Couple the lane addition created by Tran’s bill with Project F of the Renewed Measure M, and you’ll find we’re on the brink of significantly boosting through-put on the 55 between the 22 Freeway and the 405.

Project F is an estimated $366 million project slated to add additional lanes to the 55 to “increase highway capacity and reduce congestion,” according to the Orange County Transportation Authority’s website.

Sounds prudent. After all, OCTA says traffic volume on the 55 is expected to increase 13% to nearly 332,000 trips a day in the relatively near future.

The problem is a pretty large chunk of that increased traffic volume will trek beachward, right into that pinhole where the 55 hits the brakes at 19th Street in our beloved Goat Hill.

So what we potentially have with an expanded 55 between the 22 and the 405 is a bigger fire hose blasting more cars in a shorter period of time right down Costa Mesa’s gullet and on into Eastside neighborhoods and Newport Beach.