THOUSAND OAKS : Boulevard’s Lights to Be Synchronized

Drives down Thousand Oaks Boulevard will soon become quicker, as the Thousand Oaks City Council has approved spending more than $500,000 to synchronize traffic signals on the city’s main downtown street.

Within 30 days, Taft Electric Co. of Ventura will begin work on traffic signals and intersection lighting along Thousand Oaks Boulevard in an effort to improve circulation and reduce auto emissions.

“For the first time, Thousand Oaks Boulevard will be programmed to minimize the number of times you have to stop at red lights, so you can get from one end of the city to the other faster,” said Jeff Knowles, an assistant civil engineer in the city’s public works department.

The work should be completed by February, 1994.

Thousand Oaks Boulevard is the last arterial road to remain unprogrammed, Knowles said. The city has already synchronized lights along Lynn Road, Moorpark Road and Hillcrest Drive.

In a related matter, the City Council has agreed to ban parking along Thousand Oaks Boulevard from 3 to 6 a.m. The move will eliminate the “unsafe and unsightly practice” of trucks parked along the street throughout the night, Director of Public Works John Clement wrote in a memo to the council.