Street Barricades Divide Residents and Commuters : Toluca Lake: Burbank officials urge ending the experimental program that established artificial cul-de-sacs.

Burbank public works officials had unwelcome advice Friday for Toluca Lake residents: Dead ends are no way out.

In a report on a hotly debated local issue, the Department of Public Works recommended abandoning the effort to block commuter traffic from the wealthy community’s streets by creating cul-de-sacs--artificial dead ends that drove enraged commuters to smash down barriers and drive on sidewalks and lawns.

An experimental program using temporary barricades should be dropped because of the expense of trying to maintain the hated barriers, and because permanent closures could bring lawsuits against the city if they stymie police, fire and ambulance services in emergencies, the report said.

The Burbank City Council will debate the report at 7 p.m. Thursday at Stevenson Elementary School. A standing-room-only crowd is expected.

The report recommended that traffic-control signs would be safer and more effective than cul-de-sacs.

Department head Ora Lampman added that the cost of installing and maintaining the cul-de-sacs might be too high.

Lampman said that although traffic was diverted from the residential areas, the barriers increased congestion on Riverside Drive and Pass Avenue.

The increase is not a major problem, but new construction is planned that could add enough vehicles to bring traffic to a halt, he said.

The report also said that motorists had tried to get around the barricades by using alleys, causing accidents and presenting what police called “a significant safety problem.” Putting up permanent cul-de-sacs would increase the number of motorists using the alleys, the report said.

Some Toluca Lake residents had been trying to drive home the point for years to city officials that overflow traffic from busy Riverside Drive and Pass and Olive avenues, the major streets surrounding their neighborhoods, was creating dangerously fast-moving thoroughfares in front of their homes.

The issue divided the community, literally and figuratively, when the experimental barricades were set up in January.

Some residents believe the barricades have been effective.

“It’s upped our quality of life significantly,” said Rick Valencia, 32, who co-owns an apartment building on Toluca Lake Avenue.

“I was afraid to let our daughter walk outside. It was that bad. Cars were whizzing through here all the time.”

Other residents, and the police and fire departments, however, urged the council to take alternative measures.

“They aren’t needed, and I’m totally against it,” said Bob Walsh, 65, who has had motorists drive over his front lawn to bypass the barricades. “It prohibits police and fire from getting in here, slows down their response time. Plus, who’s going to pay for it?”

Six east-west streets paralleling Riverside Drive to the southeast were blocked, along with Rose Street, near the entrance of the Lakeside Country Club.

The residential neighborhood, mostly of single-family homes, is next to the Media District, dominated by the headquarters of several motion picture and television studios.

But motorists, apparently angered at being cut off from their customary shortcuts, have knocked down the 20-inch high, temporary wooden barriers more than 70 times.

The city has spent about $7,000 replacing them.

Front lawns of residents have been marred by motorists trying to circumvent the barriers by driving on the sidewalk.

City crews were forced to install poles in the sidewalk to block cars, but residents say motorcyclists still swerve around the barricades, sometimes into the path of pedestrians.

Merchants have also complained about customers being inconvenienced by the barriers.