Ventura Freeway Lanes Cut in Half

Beginning this week, all six lanes of the Ventura Freeway have been crowded together on the south side of the median in Woodland Hills.

The state Department of Transportation said the lanes will remain in that densely packed configuration for at least one month while the pavement north of the median is torn out and replaced.

Once the westbound lanes are repaved, all six lanes of traffic will be shifted to the north side of the median while the pavement on the other side is replaced, Caltrans Project Coordinator Larry Hathaway said.

The realignment, which will affect only about half a mile of freeway, is the final phase of a 16-month widening of the freeway from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to Valley Circle.

By adding one lane in each direction, the $23-million project will eliminate the “Woodland Hills bottleneck”--a two-mile stretch in which the freeway narrows from four lanes to three lanes in both directions.