Rain-Filled Dips Depress Commuters : Ventura Freeway: Ponds force lane closures, snarling traffic for miles each way.

Thousands of motorists who spent the past two days staring at other commuters’ brake lights on the Ventura Freeway for even longer than normal can blame the nightmare on what freeway engineers call a “do later.”

Since the recent storms hit, seven or eight “ponds” of water two to three inches deep have formed in depressions near the freeway median, forcing Caltrans to close one lane in each direction between Laurel Canyon and Van Nuys boulevards. The closure contributed to snarled traffic for miles in each direction during morning and evening rush hours.

A construction firm that has been working on widening the freeway for the past 2 1/2 years knew about the dips but put the task of fixing the problem under the category of what Caltrans project engineer Jim McAllister called “do later stuff.”

Now, the weather is dictating the contractor’s work schedule.

Once the rains break, the contractor will level the depressions, a job that will take two or three days, McAllister said. But until then the lanes will remain closed, McAllister said. “I want to get it finished as much as the public wants it done,” he said.

It is dangerous to drive through the ponds because drivers can lose control when the sudden water pressure against the sides of the tires causes momentary loss of steering control, and vehicles can hydroplane--the tires, lifted by a layer of compressed water, lose contact with the road.

The lane closure--which forces motorists to perform the tense task of high-speed merging in the rain--has created miles of congestion during rush hours, adding 10 to 15 minutes to the average commute, California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Jane Bartholme said.

“We haven’t had a lot of accidents, but it’s been slow moving because of the rain and that lane closure,” she said.

The $40-million widening project is nearly 1 1/2 years behind schedule. Part of that delay has been due to months of extra work needed to improve the drainage system on the freeway. But McAllister said the drainage system is working well and is not part of the flooding problem.

When the widening project is completed, the Ventura Freeway will have five lanes in each direction from Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills to Universal City, with a six-lane eastbound section stretching for a mile west of the San Diego Freeway.

McAllister said the widening project will be completed by next month after a fifth eastbound lane is added between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Canoga Avenue in Woodland Hills.

Moorpark resident Steve Hill, who avoids the Ventura Freeway on his way to work in the Wilshire District, said Thursday the flooding is evidence of why he never uses that stretch of road.

“No one takes the 101 that I know of,” he said. “It’s bad news.”

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