Multi-Agency Tangle Is Cause of Freeway Bottleneck

Dear Street Smart:

I commute to Ventura every day, and the bottleneck on the Ventura Freeway where it crosses the Santa Clara River between Oxnard and Ventura is ridiculous.

The three lanes of traffic move along fine until they are squeezed into two lanes. Then everything comes to a halt.

I can’t believe nothing has been done to take care of what seems to be a very simple problem to fix.

Leslie Gonzales, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

The problem may be simple, but the solution involves a tangle of city and state agencies and a huge pile of cash.

Officials are all too aware of the traffic backups and road hazards caused by the narrow bridge, and say they are anxious to get the road-widening project under way.

Plans to widen the Ventura Freeway where it crosses the Santa Clara River are part of a $60-million roadway improvement scheme being hashed out by officials and consultants from Ventura, Oxnard and the state Department of Transportation.

Other components of the mega-project include improvements at the Ventura Freeway-California 1 connection and a complete revamping of the Johnson Drive and Vineyard Avenue intersections.

But the rules of bureaucracy require that every phase of the proposal be discussed and reviewed several times by each participant before the project can go forward.

That means that city and state officials and their consultants get a crack at each draft of the proposal. That review process is under way and, if all goes well, repairs would begin in the summer of 1995, said Samia Maximous, Oxnard transportation manager.

One of the major sticking points is who will pay for the project. Caltrans has agreed to pay half the cost, and Ventura and Oxnard have to come up with the other half. Oxnard officials want to collect assessments from businesses in the area that stand to benefit from the road improvements and that contribute to the area’s traffic.

Dear Street Smart:

There’s a road in Thousand Oaks that’s very dangerous to drive at night because it has almost no street lights.

I’m referring to Moorpark Road from the Ventura Freeway to Janss Road.

There are a few lights on this stretch where there are stores. But for a good part of the roadway, there are no stores, so it’s completely dark. I once hit a stanchion because it was so dark I couldn’t see.

Could some street lights be installed on this road?

Alice Kutzin, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

Yes they could, but not in the near future.

You are correct that large stretches of Moorpark Road remain unlighted, even though 56 street lights line portions of the road between the Ventura Freeway and Janss Road.

The first stretch without lights, about 800 feet, extends from Hillcrest Drive to Brazil Street. The second encompasses a 2,500-foot section from the Lucky Food Store at Wilbur Road to Janss Road.

Thousand Oaks Traffic Engineer John Helliwell says the city has no immediate plans to install more lights on the road because it must first complete a five-year project to bury power lines in the area.

Helliwell says there is little point in installing more street lights before the power lines are buried because they would all have to be redone once the new underground system is in place.

For now, he says, drivers should take extra care on the roadway, especially at night.

Dear Street Smart:

Is it possible to change the timing on a stoplight in Thousand Oaks?

Heading eastbound where Kanan Road intersects with Lindero Canyon Road, the light turns green for only a few seconds. If the light is green and I’m 20 feet away, I can’t make it through the intersection before the light turns red.

If you sit there and wait for a green, by the time you get through the intersection, the light is already yellow. What is the purpose of such a short light?

Barbara Moreton, Oak Park

Dear Reader:

City Traffic Engineer John Helliwell said the timing of stoplights is routinely changed, but that the light at Kanan and Lindero Canyon roads is set correctly given the amount of traffic.

All traffic signals in Thousand Oaks are “actuated,” Helliwell says. This means that when a car reaches an intersection, it triggers a magnetic detector loop that tells the signal there is a car waiting to pass.

So when that direction’s turn for a signal comes up, the light will turn green, allowing the vehicle through.

In order to determine how long a light should stay green, traffic employees periodically visit each intersection, count cars and then figure out how much green time each direction of traffic should be allowed.

If traffic is minimal from a particular direction, the signal may stay green for only a few seconds, Helliwell says.

“We depend a lot on the driver to be alert and ready to go,” he said.

The signal at Kanan and Lindero Canyon was installed two years ago and includes “all the latest, state-of-the-art equipment,” Helliwell says.

Even so, Helliwell says he will have his employees check the light just to make sure that it is working properly.