Sherman Oaks Group Rallies Against Freeway Rail Proposal

Worried that they may get stuck with a noisy trolley line that other neighborhoods are resisting, Sherman Oaks homeowners Wednesday night launched their own campaign against construction of a light-rail line along the Ventura Freeway.

Members of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. said a proposal to construct an upper deck over the freeway to carry a rail line will wreck their neighborhoods.

Residents met just hours after a Los Angeles City Council committee agreed to study the double-decking concept as one of three proposals for handling the San Fernando Valley’s growing commuter traffic congestion.

“This proposal scares me to death,” said Ruthann Ackrich of Sherman Oaks. She said her neighbors should learn a lesson from residents of North Hollywood, who have persuaded officials to study a subway past their homes.

About half of a crowd of about 125 people indicated they live within six blocks of the Ventura Freeway--an area that transportation engineers predict would be affected by noise from an elevated train system.

Richard L. Sommerhauser, a senior engineer with the state Department of Transportation, told the crowd that transportation officials were asked by several Valley-area legislators to study the elevated rail proposal. He said the most feasible concept would involve building two decks above the freeway--one above each shoulder.

He said that such a project could allow development of an express lane for buses as well as a rail line in each direction. He estimated the cost at about $910 million to build the system from North Hollywood to Calabasas.

Sommerhauser said a CalTrans study concluded that the double-deck project would require the displacement of about 50 homes, 530 apartments and 425 businesses. But he stressed, “We have no intention at this time to pursue any double-decking of the Ventura Freeway.”

Some Sherman Oaks residents questioned Sommerhauser about new rail technologies that may be quieter than the traditional elevated trains of the kind used in eastern American cities. He replied that he is unfamiliar with the new technologies.

Most of those in the audience, however, vowed to fight the construction of an upper deck on the freeway for any purpose.

Mikie Maloney, who said her Sherman Oaks home sits next to the freeway, said she was fearful that her residence might not be among the 50 homes that would have to be condemned for construction of an upper deck, leaving her to live with intolerable noise.

A neighbor, Diane Glassio, who lives one house from the freeway, said she was convinced there could be no such thing as a “quiet” elevated rail system.

“The only way to go is underground,” Glassio told the crowd.

“Fight for it like your neighbors over along Chandler Boulevard have done,” she said, referring to effective opposition in a North Hollywood neighborhood to a proposed light-rail line there.