Obvious Solution to a Traffic Problem Isn’t Always So

Dear Street Smart:

I have noticed a problem at the intersection of Los Angeles Avenue (California 118) and Santa Clara Avenue, just northwest of Camarillo.

It was great when they put a traffic light at this intersection. However, to have a better flow of traffic, it should have been a three-way light.

The problem occurs when cars are moving southwest from Los Angeles Avenue toward the Ventura Freeway, and a driver going northeast on Santa Clara Avenue wants to turn left toward Saticoy.

The driver making the left turn must wait for an opening. Meanwhile, drivers who want to travel straight ahead toward Somis must wait behind him, sometimes missing a light change.

If each direction had an individual light change, it would make for a smoother flow of traffic.

Betsy Pervorse, Oxnard

Dear Reader:

Giving each leg of this T-shaped intersection its own green light, one after another, may sound like a fair solution. But traffic experts say it would only create more impatience and confusion as drivers on each leg waited their turn.

The simplest remedy would be a left-turn pocket on Santa Clara. Then Saticoy-bound drivers could move out of the way while others proceed straight ahead toward Somis.

But Robert A. Houle, a Caltrans engineer in Ventura, says there is no room right now to add a turn pocket to this two-lane road.

When this traffic signal was installed, Caltrans timed the lights to benefit the heaviest traffic--drivers heading south toward the freeway.

But as a result of your inquiry, Houle says Caltrans will do another check to see if the signal phasing needs some adjustment.

If you can wait a while longer, more improvements are on the way.

California State University wants to build its long-awaited Ventura County campus near this location. To accommodate the school, county traffic experts hope to widen Santa Clara Avenue between the Oxnard city limits and Los Angeles Avenue.

This project, perhaps five or six year away, will probably include an upgrading of the corner that’s causing your consternation.

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Dear Street Smart:

Hundreds of homes are located east of Wendy Drive and south of the Ventura Freeway in Newbury Park. The only entrances and exits from these neighborhoods are Alice Drive and Bella Drive.

Both meet Wendy Drive on a curve. The intersection at Alice is the more dangerous of the two, especially at high traffic time.

Making a left turn from Alice Drive is hazardous because your view of oncoming traffic is hampered by the curvature of Wendy Drive and the vehicles parked on the east side of Wendy.

The obvious correction would be a traffic signal.

But due to the current restraints on spending, a simpler solution would be to paint the curbs red 100 feet or more each way on Wendy, where it intersects Alice. That would prohibit cars from parking there, blocking the view of drivers making a turn.

I hope that the traffic engineers will see this dangerous condition and take appropriate action as soon as possible.

Vincent H. Simpson, Newbury Park

Dear Reader:

This certainly sounds like a troublesome place to make a turn.

Alice Drive is a collector street in an unincorporated pocket of Newbury Park. Cars from throughout the neighborhood must make their way to Alice to leave the housing tract.

A couple of years ago, impatient drivers were zipping up and down this street, exceeding the 25-m.p.h. speed limit, says Butch Britt, Ventura County’s deputy public works director.

To rein them in, the county installed a stop sign at Wendy Drive and asked CHP officers to ticket speeders.

But these steps haven’t made it any easier to make that left turn from Alice onto Wendy.

Britt says there isn’t enough traffic to justify a signal. But he says county workers will check the intersection to see if a no-parking policy near the corner would make it easier to see oncoming traffic.

Yet Britt cautions, “You have to look at it both ways. There may be some reasons why people park on the street. We’d have to make sure it meets the safety objective but doesn’t cause a bigger problem.”

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Dear Street Smart:

I live on Vista Lago Drive in the west end of Simi Valley. This street opens onto Madera Road at the sweeping turn opposite the Sinaloa Golf Course.

This is surely one of the most dangerous intersections in the county.

Several fatalities have occurred on Madera Road within 200 yards of Vista Lago. Nonfatal accidents and spin-outs are common.

Recently, the city raised the speed limit on Madera from 45 to 50 m.p.h. The traffic really flies past.

The problem we who live on Vista Lago have is getting out onto Madera safely, especially at peak traffic hours.

The solution for Vista Lago residents would be to install an “on-demand” traffic light at the intersection.

Maybe the completion of the link between the Simi Valley and Moorpark freeways will help. But it will not solve the problem. What can be done?

Terry Donovan, Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

Sorry, but the word from Simi Valley City Hall is not encouraging.

The city recently looked at this corner as part of an annual review regarding where new traffic lights are needed.

The intersection of Vista Lago and Madera didn’t qualify because so few cars use the side street and because the accident rate is relatively low, says Bill Golubics, the city’s traffic engineer.

According to city records, only six collisions have been reported at this corner over the past five years. Others have occurred near the corner--including a fatal crash about two years ago--but they probably were not caused by cross-traffic with Vista Lago, Golubics says.

Bear in mind that traffic signals cost up to $115,000. The city can’t afford to put them at every difficult intersection, Golubics says.

Here’s another reason why the city is balking: Two other side streets--Irvine Road and Shafer Court--empty onto Madera near Vista Lago. A signal that helps your street could create new problems for your neighbors.

But finally, here’s a hopeful note: The opening of the connector between the Moorpark and Simi Valley freeways this fall will divert about 10,000 cars a day from Madera Road, Golubics predicts.

“That should create larger gaps in traffic, so that motorists can leave the side streets more conveniently and more safely,” he says.