Official Tells Plan to Handle Traffic During Freeway Work

In what promises to be a two-year nightmare for motorists, freeway lanes will be blocked, off-ramps will be closed and the San Fernando Valley’s main surface street will be jammed.

But the transportation planner in charge of keeping traffic moving during the upcoming Ventura Freeway widening got an early taste of success Thursday at a Chinese restaurant in Sherman Oaks.

Larry Hathaway snapped open his fortune cookie after he explained to the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce how he hopes to combine an elaborate detour system and some sophisticated electronics to prevent commuter gridlock.

“Your present plans are going to succeed,” was Hathaway’s fortune.

Braced for Showdown

That was a welcome omen to Hathaway, who was preparing for Thursday night’s showdown over a controversial state Department of Transportation proposal to reserve part of the widened freeway for a diamond lane restricted to buses and van pools.

Fortune cookies aside, Hathaway refused to predict how the advisory committee that has studied the car-pool lane concept will vote. Such a lane is favored by his employer, Caltrans, but opposed by many commuters and politicians.

He also hedged when asked by merchants how badly traffic will be snarled once the the first phase of construction begins this summer along a 7 1/2-mile stretch of the freeway between Valley Circle Boulevard and White Oak Avenue.

85-Minute Ordeal

The rush-hour commute between Woodland Hills and Sherman Oaks that now can take up to 45 minutes could become an 85-minute ordeal during the project, although special traffic-management techniques may prevent that from happening, Hathaway said.

Those include a nighttime construction schedule, a low-power radio station to broadcast alternate route tips to motorists and coordinated traffic signals for Ventura Boulevard--which Hathaway conceded will be the main alternate route.

He said businesses in Warner Center are being asked to stagger workers’ schedules during the project and trucking associations are being asked to do the same thing to drivers’ schedules.

But merchants in the luncheon audience were skeptical that the efforts will prevent Sherman Oaks’ stretch of Ventura Boulevard from suffering. There was skepticism, too, about the wisdom of the freeway widening.

‘It’s Frightening’

“It’s frightening. I’m thinking of moving back to the Valley,” said Sherman Oaks chamber manager Patrice Bertholdo, an Agoura Hills resident.

“Adding a new lane to the freeway has the same permanent value as patching a road does instead of rebuilding it,” complained Carol K. Goodman, vice president of Encino Savings & Loan and a Valley resident since 1946.

John V. Best, a vice president of Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan who has lived in the Valley since 1933, said traffic engineers should double-deck the freeway or restrict its use if they hope to solve its maddening traffic jams.

Best’s fortune cookie suggested a pragmatic approach for motorists. Its message was: “A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.”