Ventura Freeway Job Promises to Give Drivers a Fit

Motorists who travel through the West San Fernando Valley are being warned to expect nightmarish traffic conditions starting in August, when a 19-month Ventura Freeway widening project gets under way.

The worst conditions can be expected in Woodland Hills, where freeway lanes and off-ramps will be closed and commuter traffic may be forced onto surface streets, state traffic engineers say.

At the Valley’s western edge, the freeway’s nastiest bottleneck will be squeezed further by an unusual detour, engineers said.

The upheaval will be caused by a $24.3-million construction project designed to increase the capacity of the world’s busiest freeway--and give Valley-area commuters their first diamond lane.

Construction will include the resurfacing of bumpy and crumbling sections of the freeway. The new pavement will be re-striped to add traffic lanes in both directions along most of the freeway between Valley Circle Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Avenue.

Section to Be Replaced

But freeway engineers have determined that a half-mile section of freeway pavement in Woodland Hills has deteriorated so badly that it must be dug up and replaced.

That repair will require workers to detour traffic as they close each side of the freeway near Valley Circle Boulevard for three-month periods, engineers said.

Westbound lanes will be shoehorned onto the eastbound side of the freeway to share space with opposing traffic. After the westbound lanes are replaced, the eastbound lanes will be detoured onto the westbound side, said Larry C. Hathaway, an engineer with the state’s Department of Transportation. Officials expect to keep three lanes of traffic in each direction during the six months the detours are in effect, though they will be narrow, temporary lanes.

Concrete safety barriers will keep vehicles traveling opposite directions apart and a “gawk screen” will be put up to keep motorists from slowing to watch road workers, Hathaway told the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization on Thursday night.

Other Steps

Anticipating the worst, Hathaway said state engineers have mapped other steps to relieve congestion during the project:

Crews will work night shifts to avoid peak daytime commuter periods on the freeway, which last year averaged 267,000 vehicles daily. Work at on- and off-ramps will be scheduled for less-traveled weekend periods.

Two low-power radio stations will be operated by Caltrans to warn motorists headed toward Woodland Hills about traffic jams. One transmitter will be five miles west of the Valley and the other will be 25 miles west. Flashing signs will alert motorists to tune in.

Los Angeles transportation officials will be asked to set automatic traffic signals along Ventura Boulevard to speed the flow of commuters using it as an alternative route. Left-turn restrictions and boulevard parking restrictions will also be sought.

Los Angeles police will be asked to station officers at key intersections for traffic control during morning and evening hours. They would help reroute commuters onto surface streets such as Avenue San Luis and Calabasas Road, which parallel the freeway in Woodland Hills and Calabasas.

Closed-circuit television cameras may be installed so Caltrans engineers can watch for unexpected tie-ups.

Special “motorist assistance patrols” may be created to continuously patrol the construction area, where the freeway shoulder will be used for temporary travel lanes. At those sites, there will be no room for emergency parking if motorists run out of gas or break down.

Warner Center employers will be asked to stagger work schedules and set up four-day workweeks during the construction period. Employees in the 1,100-acre, master-planned Woodland Hills commercial area will be asked to car-pool.

Senior Caltrans engineer David J. Kilmurray said a proposal by Warner Center leaders for construction of a westbound freeway on-ramp and an eastbound off-ramp at Canoga Avenue seems “dead in the water” because of budget problems.

The ramps would cost $20 million to build because they would have to be “braided” over or under nearby Topanga Canyon Boulevard freeway ramps, Kilmurray told homeowners.

Kilmurray said a citizens advisory committee is being set up to evaluate plans to designate one of the new lanes--eastbound between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and the San Diego Freeway--as a high-occupancy vehicle lane.

A diamond-lane concept touched off so much controversy in the 1970s that Caltrans was forced to drop it. This time, however, the diamond lane will be added to existing ones so solo motorists will not have anything “taken away” from them, Kilmurray said.

Such lanes, designated by diamond symbols, are restricted to vehicles carrying two or more people.

Kilmurray said engineers are still working on plans for a new $14.4-million freeway interchange at Valley Circle Boulevard. It will not be part of the upcoming project.