Left-Turn Arrow Would Only Worsen Bad Intersection

Dear Street Smart:

Would it be possible to install a left-turn arrow for northbound C Street where it crosses Channel Islands Boulevard in Oxnard?

As it is now, the wait to turn is very long. During rush hour you have to wait through two or three signal cycles to get through.

I have seen drivers get fed up and run the red light instead of waiting for the next green.

This is a very dangerous situation that is only getting worse.

Florence F. Lojewski, Oxnard

Dear Reader:

Adding a left-turn arrow would be a bad idea, traffic engineer Joe Genovese says.

Genovese reached this conclusion after reviewing traffic counts and accident data and hanging out at the intersection during rush hour watching the traffic go by.

The problem, Genovese says, is that Channel Islands carries a lot of traffic--about 2,000 vehicles during evening rush hour.

Adding a left-turn lane for C Street traffic would cause additional backups at the C Street intersection and at the nearby intersections with J and M streets, which are synchronized.

The city will, however, add a few extra seconds of green time to the C Street light to help left-turning cars, Genovese says.

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Dear Street Smart:

Why doesn’t Caltrans institute car-pool lanes on the Simi Valley Freeway between Simi and Los Angeles to improve the flow of traffic?

During rush hours there are long backups, but with a car-pool lane some of the congestion could be eliminated and car-pooling would be encouraged.

William Lonergan, Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

Take heart. Car-pool lanes are on the way.

Within the next several weeks, Caltrans plans to launch a $22.4-million project to widen and add car-pool lanes to the Simi Valley Freeway.

The project will cover a 12-mile stretch of the freeway, from just west of the Ventura County line to the Golden State Freeway.

The project will add one regular lane and one car-pool lane in each direction.

Caltrans estimates that the car-pool lanes alone will increase the capacity of the freeway by 11,500 people during peak hours.

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Dear Street Smart:

I am seriously concerned about the southbound exit from the Simi Valley Freeway at Madera Road in Simi Valley.

I exit here at least once a day, and I often see problems because of confusion among drivers about proper use of the double right-turn lanes onto Madera.

What happens is that drivers in the inside lane illegally shift into the other lane. Signs are posted telling drivers to stay in their lanes, but they don’t seem to be doing any good.

These illegal lane changes have caused many near-misses. I have been involved in at least 20 in the last three months.

Is there anything else that can be done to alert drivers of their lane assignments?

Hillary Gray, Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

Simi Valley traffic engineer Bill Golubics shares your concern but says little can be done to improve the situation.

Golubics says he, too, has seen drivers veering out of their designated lanes. Hoping to prevent accidents, the city installed raised lane markers so cars would vibrate when they cross into another lane.

Only two accidents have been reported in the area since the city added the double right-turn lanes several years ago.

“I’ve seen some near-misses there myself,” Golubics says. “But the record for actual accidents is really quite good.”