Motorists Steer Clear of Freeway in First Weekend of Work

Overcast weather and motorists who heeded the warnings of authorities to avoid portions of the Ventura Freeway under construction in the San Fernando Valley helped avert the massive traffic jams transportation officials had predicted Saturday and Sunday, officials said.

“I think the cloudy weather had a lot to do it,” said George-Ann Rosenberg, a state Department of Transportation spokeswoman. “We also think word got out to the public, and people took our advice to stay off the freeway and use alternative routes.”

Three of four westbound lanes between Tarzana and Woodland Hills were closed from midnight Friday to 11 a.m. Saturday and from midnight Saturday through 11 a.m. Sunday, as workers replaced concrete bridge-approach slabs between White Oak and Canoga avenues.

A backup of up to 10 miles predicted by Caltrans never came close to materializing, officials said. On Sunday, in fact, traffic flowed unhampered at about 55 m.p.h. through the construction area much of the morning.

“I don’t think we overestimated anticipated traffic levels,” Rosenberg said. “People just stayed away, but our fear now is that things went so well everyone will return to the freeway next weekend.”

The lane closures were expected to restrict the area’s normal peak traffic of 6,000 vehicles per hour to a maximum of 2,000 vehicles per hour, Rosenberg said. Caltrans engineers unofficially reported a 20% reduction in traffic flow Saturday, she said.

Caltrans received about 500 telephone calls Friday for information on the roadwork and alternate routes, Rosenberg said. “The phone was ringing off the hook Friday,” she said.

The lane reopenings Sunday, which were delayed for 90 minutes as workers waited for wet concrete to dry, according to Caltrans, were further complicated by an accident involving a van. Two victims were airlifted to St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.

No information on the victims’ condition, the cause of the accident or whether the delay in reopening the lanes played a role in the crash was available Sunday, according to the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans.

The weekend lane closures will continue until the end of July, except for the Fourth of July.