Weren’t Traffic Problems Foreseen?

Gabe Fuentes’ article, “Some Businesses Face Problems as Nordhoff St. Straightens Out” (March 13) made me wonder why both the city in this case and the state in the case of the Simi Valley Freeway are so shortsighted when it comes to metropolitan transit.

According to Fuentes, the city has had rights to build the Nordhoff road connection for 20 years. The problem cited for this lack of action was insufficient funding. Now that funding has become available, construction has begun, with a project completion date of sometime next summer. The city feels that this will relieve traffic in the future, but for now inconvenience reigns for area shoppers and residents. Something should have been done long ago, before the problem arose!

Now direct your attention to the Simi Valley Freeway. At present, each direction has three lanes, with the eastbound side allowing driving on the inside shoulder during peak morning hours. It should be obvious to the state, especially after underestimating traffic flow on both the San Diego Freeway and the Ventura Freeway, that a freeway capable of handling more volume is necessary to allow for future growth, without construction.

With Simi Valley’s population of more than 100,000, it’s obvious that expansion is required, causing an inconvenience for thousands of motorists daily. Cost, time and motorist inconvenience could be greatly cut if both the state and city organizations looked a little bit more into the future.

TIM NELSON

Northridge