SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Caltrans Announces Plan for Freeway Interchange
After more than 20 years of study and four years of wrangling with Calabasas residents, Caltrans plans to break ground in July on a new bridge and interchange at the Ventura Freeway and Valley Circle Boulevard.
The $13.5-million project, outlined at a community meeting Wednesday night, will redesign the confusing interchange to make it easier to get on and off the freeway. It will take about 2 1/2 years to complete, said Caltrans transportation engineer Sam Esquenazi.
It is a scaled-back version of a controversial 1988 plan and represents a victory for residents who sued to stop the earlier proposal, which called for a second bridge over the freeway connecting four-lane Ventura Boulevard to two-lane Calabasas Road in the heart of Old Town Calabasas. Although residents wanted a solution to what one called “horrendous” traffic bottlenecks on the 1950s-era interchange, they objected to the original plan because they said it would destroy the community’s Old West flavor and threaten the historic Leonis Adobe.
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