Caltrans Plans to Speed Traffic by Stopping It : Commuting: It hopes to widen the transition road from the southbound Golden State to the Pasadena Freeway to two lanes. But to handle the crush, ramp meters will be needed.

Caltrans is planning an innovative way to speed up downtown rush-hour traffic: Bring it to a stop.

To cope with morning commute traffic that is choked to a crawl by an anachronistic one-lane connector road from the southbound Golden State Freeway to the southbound Pasadena Freeway, Caltrans has proposed restriping the pavement to add a second lane.

But to prevent this gush of traffic from clogging the Pasadena Freeway, Caltrans also plans to install ramp meters--modified stoplights--on the newly widened connector road.

A request for $210,000 to rebuild the ramp is scheduled to be considered by the California Transportation Commission at a meeting today in Sacramento.

Although the state has used ramp meters for more than 20 years to regulate traffic entering crowded freeways, Caltrans engineer Doug Failing said that this is the first time anyone has proposed using meters to try to tame congestion already on a Los Angeles freeway.

The idea is not unique, however. The state Department of Transportation already meters four freeway-to-freeway connector roads in San Diego and another in San Jose, and similar devices also are used in Minneapolis and San Antonio.

“Metering freeway-to-freeway connectors requires careful attention to storage space, advanced warning and sight distance,” according to a 1989 study by the Federal Highway Administration, “(but) if conditions allow, freeway connector metering can be just as safe and effective as other ramp meters.”

Caltrans decided to modify the connector after studying its stubborn congestion. Analysts concluded that the problem grew out of the outdated, “non-standard” ramp design--two lanes funneling into one, which then climbs a slight grade before making a sharp right turn.

Repainting the stripes to create two traffic lanes is expected to solve part of the problem, but it would create another because those lanes would merge with the 50-year-old Pasadena Freeway. Meters seemed to be the best way to smooth the merge, according to a project report by Gary Bork, chief of the traffic operations branch.

Traffic that backs up behind the meters will be contained in the two connector-road lanes.

Caltrans officials could not say late Tuesday afternoon if they are considering freeway-to-freeway meters elsewhere in Los Angeles.

Freeway Meters: To ease congestion where the southbound Golden State Freeway traffic merges into the Pasadena Freeway, Caltrans is proposing to regulate the connector road with meters similar to those on freeway on-ramps.