Computer to Control Traffic Lights During Freeway Work

Traffic lights along a stretch of Ventura Boulevard in the West San Fernando Valley will be converted to computerized timing during the widening of the Ventura Freeway beginning later this year, according to a city transportation official.

Donald R. Howery, general manager of the Los Angeles City Department of Transportation, said at a meeting in Van Nuys on Wednesday night that money badly needed in more congested parts of the city will be diverted to the West Valley to try to offset traffic expected to spill onto surface streets during the three-year freeway project.

Howery said the high-tech signaling system would allow a computer downtown to analyze traffic flow through major intersections and automatically adjust the period of green and red lights over a wide area to keep traffic jams to a minimum during heavy congestion.

Sensors embedded in the streets will send information about traffic to the computer over telephone lines.

The system, previously used by Los Angeles County and successfully introduced by the city during the 1984 Olympics to guide traffic near the Coliseum, can increase the capacity of a street by 10%, reducing delays by as much as 20%, Howery said.

In the first phase of the freeway construction, which is scheduled to begin in December, 32 intersections between Valley Circle Boulevard and Reseda Boulevard will be brought under computer control, Howery said. Signals on Ventura Boulevard and on-ramps and off-ramps of the Ventura Freeway will be included.

Later, as construction on the freeway advances eastward toward Universal City, more intersections will be computerized, Howery said. By the early 1990s, traffic the length of Ventura Boulevard is expected to be guided by computer-controlled signals, he said.

Howery announced the plan at a community meeting on traffic and zoning issues called by several Valley council members Wednesday night in the Grant High School Auditorium.

During the three-hour session, Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky, Marvin Braude, Joel Wachs and Michael Woo listened to complaints and suggestions from about 70 people.

Howery and Los Angeles Planning Director Kenneth C. Topping also sat on the panel.

In introductory remarks, Howery said that other areas of the city, including downtown and the Wilshire corridor, are far more congested than Ventura Boulevard. However, the city can take advantage of money that Caltrans has budgeted to offset congestion that its construction project will cause on Ventura Boulevard, he said. Funds are not available for work elsewhere, he added.

Although the arrangement has not been worked out formally, the city will pay about a fourth of the $2-million cost of the traffic-management program, Howery said. About half of the $2 million will be used to pay for traffic-control officers, he said.