Commuter Route to Be Closed at Rush Hour : Balboa Boulevard: The move will disconnect a popular link between West Valley and northern L.A. County.

Balboa Boulevard in Granada Hills, the main surface street connecting the west San Fernando Valley and northern Los Angeles County, will be shut to most rush-hour commuters beginning Tuesday, despite warnings that the change will dump thousands more cars per hour onto already congested freeways, Los Angeles officials said Wednesday.

Signs went up Tuesday evening warning motorists that they will be forbidden to make the turns necessary to use the route--a shortcut around the Golden State, San Diego and Simi Valley freeways for Santa Clarita and Antelope valley residents who work in the western San Fernando Valley.

Commuters will be prohibited from turning south from San Fernando Road onto Balboa or north from Balboa onto San Fernando during peak rush hours, forcing them onto the Golden State Freeway or Foothill Boulevard.

The rerouting was accomplished by Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson over years-long opposition by city traffic engineers.

It was hailed by Granada Hills homeowners, who for six years have been complaining about traffic, speeding and accidents on Balboa and nearby residential streets. But it promises to enrage commuters from the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

“This is going to be chaos down there,” said J.J. O’Brien, a retired California Highway Patrol officer and member of the Santa Clarita Valley Transportation Committee. “There’s going to be some hurt people and some crunched cars.”

Tom Swire, senior transportation engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, said that, during peak traffic periods, 2,200 cars pass each hour along the southbound connector road between San Fernando and Balboa. The rate is 2,400 cars per hour in the opposite direction during the afternoon rush hour.

“It’s definitely a major route,” said Swire, who has opposed prohibiting turns on the street because it is officially designated a major arterial highway. “To shut down a designated major highway entering the city of L.A. was an inappropriate means of dealing with the problem. We felt that the traffic it was carrying was not excessive.”

Bernson, who represents Granada Hills and who is locked in the toughest reelection campaign of his career, successfully sought City Council approval for the project earlier this month. Bernson said he had to “push the issue” to the council floor after city traffic engineers for six years rejected it on the grounds that it would create traffic nightmares.

The council approved the prohibitions without debate. City traffic engineers are scheduled to return to the council by early August to report on whether the changes are working.

Bernson denied that the timing of the prohibitions was tied to the June 4 city runoff election. The councilman faces stiff opposition from challenger Julie Korenstein, especially in areas near Porter Ranch, where Bernson has supported a huge development to be completed over the next 20 years.

In Granada Hills precincts between Balboa Boulevard and Porter Ranch, Bernson got only 37.2% of the vote in the April 9 primary, compared to 50% or more of the vote in precincts farther from Porter Ranch.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for a long time,” said Bernson, who lives in Granada Hills. “This is not a freeway. The people that live outside the community are just going to have to take the freeways like they should.”

Bernson dismissed warnings from city and state traffic engineers that the changes would lead to worsened traffic on the Golden State, San Diego and Simi Valley freeways and other surface streets.

“Caltrans would love to get a few cars off the freeway,” Bernson said. “The problem is those communities won’t build jobs with their homes. If they had jobs in their own communities, they wouldn’t have to get on our freeways and streets and drive those distances all day. Our air quality would be better, not to mention traffic.”

Starting Tuesday, motorists will no longer be permitted to turn right from San Fernando Road onto Balboa from 6 to 9 a.m. weekdays, and they will not be allowed to turn left from Balboa onto San Fernando between 4 and 7 p.m. weekdays.

Currently, thousands of motorists each day bypass the congested Golden State Freeway by driving south from Santa Clarita on San Fernando Road and then turning right on Balboa, continuing to their jobs via Rinaldi Street, the Simi Valley Freeway and other east-west thoroughfares.

On the way home, they take Balboa north and turn left onto San Fernando Road. Commuters headed for the Antelope Valley branch off from San Fernando Road onto the Antelope Valley Freeway or Sierra Highway. Those driving to Valencia typically take The Old Road, which was recently improved specifically to handle the load of commuter traffic that the new regulations will route elsewhere.

Times staff writer Steve Padilla contributed to this story.

Proposed Traffic Restrictions

* 6-9 a.m.: Southbound traffic on San Fernando Road would not be permitted to make right turns onto Balboa Blvd.

* 4-7 p.m.: Northbound traffic on Balboa Blvd. would not be allowed to make left turns onto SanFernando Road.