Ventura Freeway Jams Expected : Officials Brace for Weekend of Slow Going

Extra traffic-control officers, warning signs and a helicopter will be used this weekend to try to alleviate what transportation officials fear may be a massive traffic jam as the result of stepped-up construction work on the Ventura Freeway, authorities said Thursday.

Three of four westbound lanes from Tarzana to Woodland Hills will be closed on Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings until the end of July, except for the Fourth of July weekend, state Department of Transportation officials announced this week.

On a typical Saturday morning, an estimated 6,000 cars pass through the construction area in an hour, according to Caltrans. With the lane closures, the agency estimates traffic will be restricted to 2,000 vehicles an hour.

The lane closures will mark the first time that the $18.3-million freeway widening project results in restricted traffic flow during daytime hours. Eastbound traffic is not expected to be affected.

To prevent traffic jams from lasting throughout the weekend, Caltrans officials are urging motorists to stay off the westbound Ventura Freeway between White Oak and Canoga avenues.

The lanes will be closed from midnight Friday to 11 a.m. Saturday and from midnight Saturday to 11 a.m. Sunday, Caltrans said. While those lanes are closed, the left lane and median shoulder west from Lindley Avenue will be open to drivers.

“The traffic volume at 11 in the morning shows that we’re going to have a real problem unless we get people to cooperate,” said Richard Paul, a Caltrans engineer. Caltrans has predicted a freeway backup of 10 miles if a significant number of drivers don’t avoid the freeway.

“This is a weekend for back-yard gardening,” said Lt. Alan Kerstein of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division.

The city Department of Transportation will deploy 12 to 14 additional traffic-control officers on Saturday and Sunday mornings to direct vehicles on and off the freeway, said Darryl Roberson, who is the San Fernando Valley supervisor for the department.

A city helicopter will look for gridlocked intersections and long backups on surface streets, Roberson said. The helicopter can dispatch traffic-control officers to keep intersections clear or allow eastbound and westbound street traffic to proceed longer than north-south traffic, he said.

Authorities outlined alternate routes, which they said would appeal to different motorists headed for a range of destinations.

On busy Ventura Boulevard, city workers will adjust traffic signals to give east-west traffic longer green lights, Paul said. But Paul and other transportation officials are not encouraging drivers to use the boulevard as an alternative to the freeway.

Other main westbound routes, they said, are Victory Boulevard and Vanowen Street, both of which could be used by drivers headed for three popular shopping malls in Canoga Park and Woodland Hills.

Lighter traffic is expected on alternate routes that are farther north, such as Sherman Way, Roscoe Boulevard and the Simi Valley Freeway, Kerstein said.

Caltrans urged morning beach-goers to use the San Diego and Santa Monica freeways, along with surface streets. Overhead message signs at three locations will warn drivers approaching the San Diego-Santa Monica freeway interchange of the heavy delays on the westbound Ventura Freeway.

A fourth overhead message sign will give the same warning to southbound drivers on the San Diego Freeway at Victory Boulevard. Mobile signs will warn drivers on the northbound San Diego Freeway at Mulholland Drive and the westbound Ventura Freeway at Van Nuys Boulevard.

Ventura Freeway on-ramps at White Oak Avenue, Reseda Boulevard and Tampa Avenue will be closed at 9 p.m. Friday. Entry ramps to the freeway at Winnetka, De Soto and Tampa avenues will be closed at 9 p.m. Saturday. All of the closed ramps are expected to reopen about 11 the next morning.

Drivers leaving town on Friday should leave as early as possible, Paul said. When the lane closures begin at midnight Friday and Saturday, traffic probably will be heavy at least until 2 a.m., he said.

It will become heavy again by about 6:30 or 7 the next morning, Paul said. Whether the freeway clears soon after the lanes reopen at 11 a.m. depends on how many drivers have avoided the freeway, he said.

Los Angeles police and the California Highway Patrol will not add extra officers during the lane closure periods, officers of those agencies said. But the CHP will concentrate its officers in the affected area, said CHP Officer Kenn Rosenberg.

“There is just a capacity to the surface streets and a capacity to the freeway that no officer is going to be able to increase,” said Kerstein. “Nobody can get them through any faster. It just takes some patience and courtesy in driving.”

FREEWAY CONSTRUCTION BOTTLENECK

Three westbound lanes will be closed from midnight tonight to 11 a.m. Saturday and again from midnight Saturday to 11 a.m. Sunday. The same lane closings will continue for six weekends with the exception of the Fourth of July weekend.