Corona council backs short-term crosswalk removal, orders study of long-term fixes at Magnolia and El Sobrante

Corona City Council members directed staff to remove the north–south pedestrian crosswalk across Magnolia Avenue at El Sobrante Road as an immediate, short-term step to improve signal coordination along Magnolia and to study two longer-term reconfiguration options for the intersection.

Traffic engineers told the council on April 2 that the crosswalk requires significantly longer signal time for pedestrians than the adjacent vehicle movements, and every pedestrian push of the button can add up to about 30 seconds of delay and put the corridor out of sync for up to six minutes. “This crosswalk is a big constraint on the signal timing at this intersection,” Senior Traffic Engineer Eric Cox said.

The council’s direction aims to reduce vehicle delay on Magnolia — the second-busiest corridor in the city — while staff return with modeling and impacts for two long-term alternatives. One option would convert El Sobrante to a right-in/right-out access configuration (Option A) and remove the El…