$16-Million Roadway Overhaul Has Started

A two-year, $16-million overhaul of the Parkway Calabasas interchange of the Ventura Freeway is under way.

The project, funded by levies on three developers and administered by the state Department of Transportation and Los Angeles County, is intended to offset a dramatic increase in traffic expected from housing and commercial developments approved for the area.

“The improvements are needed now, and they’re really going to be needed after build-out (when all the construction is done),” Calabasas City Manager Charles Cate said. “It’s just a lousy configuration where Parkway Calabasas comes into Ventura Boulevard, and the bridge is too narrow.”

Construction will be completed in two phases, the first of which will include building a new off-ramp, a new on-ramp loop for southbound traffic and a storm drain on the south side of the freeway. Completion of the first phase is expected within eight months.

The second phase involves reworking the northbound off-ramp, constructing a new on-ramp loop for northbound traffic, widening the Parkway Calabasas bridge from two to four lanes and installing several traffic signals, Cate said. The second round of improvements is expected to begin in the summer, with completion scheduled by the end of 1995.

Cate said the overhaul will be critical once the construction of 550 homes and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space is complete later this decade.

The on- and off-ramps will be open during construction, Cate said.