$18.3-Million Ventura Freeway Contract Awarded

Ending more than two years of delays, the state Department of Transportation on Friday announced the award of an $18.3-million contract to a Sylmar company for the first of the Ventura Freeway widening projects.

The bulk of the 16-month project, expected to begin in about a month, will consist of adding a fourth lane each way between Valley Circle and Topanga Canyon boulevards in Woodland Hills.

The freeway already is four lanes at both ends of the two-mile bottleneck between the two boulevards.

Also included in the project is the addition of a fifth lane westbound between White Oak Avenue and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, and the replacement of scattered segments of broken pavement, most notably on bumpy Chalk Hill, near Winnetka Avenue.

The contractor, Tutor-Saliba Corp., which Caltrans announced was the low bidder on the project last month, also will replace 3,200 feet of freeway pavement at the Valley Circle interchange.

The project has been delayed three times, most recently while the work rules and schedule contained in the proposed contract were altered in response to motorists’ concerns that construction would aggravate freeway congestion.

Because of the latest revision, the contractor will be required to conduct most of the work between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., said Jerry Baxter, interim Caltrans director for Southern California.

Also, day work projects, such as retaining walls, must be screened from motorists to prevent the slowing of traffic.

6 Lanes Kept Open

Throughout the project, three lanes must be kept open in both directions. For a four-month period late this year, however, all six lanes will be on the same side of the median, said Jack Hallin, Caltrans project development chief for Southern California.

Caltrans will designate bypass routes in an attempt to persuade motorists who are not passing through the area to stay off the freeway within the bottleneck.

Later this year, work is expected to begin on a second widening project, this one to expand the freeway to five lanes each way from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to Universal City.

However, that project remains in limbo while federal highway officials determine whether the new eastbound lane should be a “diamond lane” restricted to car pools and buses.

If federal officials decide that the new eastbound lane should be restricted, there could be delays of up to two years while the project is redesigned, Hallin said.