Road to a Smooth Ride Is Paved With Bumpy Politics

Dear Street Smart:

A few weeks ago, you answered a question about how soon the city was going to repave a section of Roscoe Boulevard that was in poor condition.

I have the same question about a stretch of Foothill Boulevard that runs through Tujunga. In the 34 years I have lived in a section of La Crescenta that is now part of the city of Glendale, our stretch of Foothill Boulevard has been repaved or resurfaced four times that I can recall.

But next door in Tujunga, it seems to me that Foothill has never been repaved. The road there has lots of patches and filled-in cracks.

So how about it? Will this street ever get off the bottom of the repaving list? Is it even on that list?

Jeff Olmstead

La Crescenta

Dear Reader:

A better question is: Whose list should it appear on? Everyone agrees that this stretch of Foothill Boulevard needs repair. But the city won’t fix it because the road belongs to the state. Yet the state won’t fix it until the city agrees to take responsibility for the road after it has been repaired.

Got that? We didn’t think so. Well, let’s try to untangle it on this week’s episode of “Take My Potholes--Please!”

For decades, Foothill Boulevard was the main state highway serving the northeast Valley. Then, Caltrans built the Foothill Freeway. Under state law, when a freeway replaces a surface street, the state can turn that street over to the locals if it is in good repair.

That last phase is the kicker. The city refused to accept a road that needed millions of dollars in repairs. At the same time, Caltrans did not want to dump lots of money into a road it planned to give away.

So Foothill Boulevard was neglected while the two sides haggled over what it would take to put the road in “good repair.”

Fortunately, the city and Caltrans reached a tentative agreement four months ago. It calls for Caltrans to spend about $7 million to fix up Foothill between Lowell and Wheatland avenues. The project is being added to the agency’s 1996-97 budget, but the work could be done sooner if other funds are found, says Jack Hallin, a Caltrans deputy district director.

After the city approves the repairs, this section of Foothill will be handed over to Los Angeles for maintenance. (The city has already taken over the stretch between Wheatland and Paxton Street and is negotiating for the section between the Foothill and Antelope Valley freeways.)

So, be patient. And bear in mind that Foothill will probably be fixed long before the city and Caltrans settle their differences over that other busy state road, Topanga Canyon Boulevard. But that’s another story.

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Dear Street Smart:

My curiosity has been piqued by a sign that is located on Ventura Boulevard, one block east of Reseda Boulevard. It says, “Bus Emitter On.”

I’m wondering: What is a bus emitter, and why does it have to be on?

Barbara Simons

Encino

Dear Reader:

Our curiosity was piqued too. We wondered how serious this warning was. Were buses sending out powerful signals that could disrupt your car radio, or worse, your pacemaker?

The truth turned out to be a little less dramatic. This sign was installed in the late 1980s, when the city and the old Southern California Rapid Transit District launched an experiment aimed at improving the flow of traffic on bustling Ventura Boulevard.

Some RTD buses were equipped with an “emitter,” a device that sends out pulses of light, sort of like the remote control units that some televisions use. The bus emitters sent a signal to receivers on traffic signals.

With these devices, a bus driver could keep a traffic signal green for an extra 10 seconds or cause a red light to end 10 seconds early, making it easier for the bus to get through the intersection without stopping.

This program did cut bus travel time, but a few glitches occurred, says Brian Gallagher, a city transportation engineer. Even though they got through each intersection more quickly, some bus drivers then had to wait longer at each bus stop to avoid running ahead of their published schedules.

Also, the RTD sometimes sent the few buses equipped with emitters to other parts of the city, where the traffic signals had no receivers.

Finally, some Ventura Boulevard bus drivers forgot when to turn the emitters on and off. That led to the sign you saw--it was put up to remind the bus drivers to turn their emitters on.

This program ended in late 1990, when the city switched to a new signal system that didn’t work with these emitters. The sign is still up because the city plans to revive this project in the near future.

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Dear Street Smart:

The public parkway along the west side of Vineland Avenue between Acama and Aqua Vista streets has become the bane of our existence. It’s unplanted, unkempt, the site of much dumping (until recently, two sofas were sitting there) and is otherwise just plain ugly!

Seeing that it obliterates the appeal of Vineland across the street from the Beverly Garland Hotel, perhaps the hotel--if not the city--would want to join an effort to beautify this strip.

For many people, this is the first impression they get of Studio City. Perhaps the Studio City Residents Assn. would care to help. But take my word on it: This parkway drags an otherwise pretty area down.

Cary Baker

Studio City

Dear Reader:

This is a city-owned parkway, and the city’s lot cleaning division is supposed to keep it tidy. But because of a hiring freeze and limited resources, the crews only get to this parkway once every six to 12 months, says Sal Mangiameli, a superintendent with the division.

He says the most recent cleanup took place Jan. 3, shortly after your question came in, so maybe it looks better now. City crews will clear debris and weeds, but they won’t do any planting or more ambitious beautification.

However, Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., lives near this parkway and knows how unattractive it is. He promised to help you organize volunteers and contact nearby businesses to get this parkway spruced up.

If a city parkway has lots of debris or constitutes a safety hazard that requires immediate attention, you can call the service request line run by the city’s Bureau of Street Maintenance at (213) 485-5661.