Dear Street Smart: The exit from the...

Dear Street Smart: The exit from the westbound Ventura Freeway at Canoga Avenue has three lanes for the turn onto Canoga. There is one left-turn lane and two right-turn-only lanes. Why can’t the middle lane be made for both right and left turns? It seems to me that many more cars are turning left onto Canoga.

S. Rothfeld

Woodland Hills

Dear Reader: We took your question to Pat Reid of Caltrans who told us that yours was the first request to study remarking the lanes. So traffic engineers will investigate the situation and if, as you say, there is a demand for more left-turn lanes, they will decide whether to add them.

We will keep you posted.

Dear Street Smart: My question has to do with the on- and off-ramps of the Ventura Freeway at Topanga Canyon Boulevard. In the middle of the northbound off-ramp and the southbound on-ramp are circular park areas with trees and grass.

Both of these areas are being slept in on a nightly basis by homeless people. I don’t like these people sleeping there because it is a hazard to residents of the community and a hazard to motorists who break down.

Also, the trash is horrendous. It is almost a health hazard. It used to be so pretty and now it is so ugly.

Michael Rabinowitz

Woodland Hills

Dear Reader: Caltrans is responsible for maintaining the landscaping along the freeway. Reid told us that crews have made an extra effort in the last two weeks to keep trees in that area pruned. She said the last time trash was picked up there was last Monday.

Unfortunately, many of your fellow motorists are to blame for tossing their junk out the window. Keeping the city clean is everybody’s responsibility.

As for the transients, they are another unfortunate sign that times are tough. California Highway Patrol Officer Tito Gomez said the situation along the Ventura Freeway is not unique.

“It happens everywhere in Los Angeles County,” he said.

Gomez said officers will generally ask transients to move along if they are blocking traffic or if they are posing a danger to themselves or motorists. For the most part, though, law enforcement officers are too busy to spend their days rousting the homeless.

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Valley Edition.