Morning Rush-Hour Lane Cuts Simi Freeway Congestion

Thanks to an experimental part-time traffic lane, the weekday morning commute into the San Fernando Valley from Simi Valley is free of congestion for the first time in more than two years.

The state Department of Transportation two weeks ago began allowing all vehicles to use the inside shoulder of the eastbound Simi Valley Freeway over a three-mile stretch during the morning rush hour.

Traffic engineers say they view the part-time lane, from Kuehner Drive in Simi Valley over the Santa Susana Pass to Topanga Canyon Boulevard, as a potential cheap and quick fix for other bottlenecks on Southern California’s freeways.

Michael Knight, a 20-year commuter from Simi Valley, said that, with the opening of the part-time lane, “traffic is moving freely over the pass for the first time since they completed the freeway a few years ago. It’s quite a relief.”

‘Moves Along Smoothly’

“The congestion used to be terrible” over the pass, said Linda Greenberg, a deputy district attorney who works in Van Nuys. “Now it moves along smoothly.”

Greenberg said it has reduced the trip over the pass by five minutes or more.

Gary Bork, Caltrans’ Southern California chief of traffic operations, said the part-time lane “seems to be working out quite well. There haven’t been any problems that I’m aware of.”

Caltrans officials said part-time conversion of the inside shoulders of highways could be particularly useful for relieving unexpected congestion, such as that plaguing the Santa Susana Pass since the Simi Valley Freeway was completed in 1983.

To the surprise of traffic engineers, the freeway, with three lanes in each direction from Moorpark to the north Valley, lured significant numbers of motorists away from the Ventura Freeway.

Restriping, Signs

The Simi inside-shoulder project cost $82,182 and was completed in about two months, Caltrans spokeswoman Felicia Archer said. Most of the money was spent on restriping and on erecting 10 signs telling motorists of the availability of the lane from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Caltrans has not previously opened a freeway’s inside shoulder to all traffic part-time. But there are more than 20 sections of freeway in Southern California where the inside or outside shoulders are in use under other programs--for buses or car pools only, for instance--said John Reeves, Caltrans construction chief for the area.

Reeves said part-time use of the center divider for all vehicles presented several problems not encountered before.

He said Caltrans did not know “whether motorists will really stay out of the lane when the signs say they are not allowed in.” Motorists have obeyed the rule so far, he said.

Archer said nothing is planned to relieve congestion westbound along the same three-mile stretch.

Abutments for Bridge

The westbound inside shoulder cannot be converted into a traffic lane because of abutments for a bridge over the freeway at Iverson Road, a private road about one mile west of Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Archer also said Caltrans studies show that there is less slowing on westbound lanes during the evening rush hour than there is on eastbound lanes during the morning rush hour.

Simi Valley Mayor Elton Gallegly said he has heard no complaints from motorists since the part-time lane opened. “I take that as good news, since I heard complaints regularly for several years now,” he said.

But Gallegly said that the city views the part-time lane as a temporary fix and it will continue pushing for a permanent fourth lane in both directions along the freeway, a project that Caltrans has estimated would cost $22 million.

Bork said that, despite increasing use of inside and outside shoulders to relieve bottlenecks, “If I were designing a freeway, I would still want the shoulders.”

The shoulders are designed for disabled cars and trucks, and emergency vehicles.

Bork said Caltrans policy is to convert a shoulder to traffic use only when congestion reaches the point that there is a higher risk of accidents from congestion than there is from loss of a shoulder.