Highway’s Ruts Will Be Fixed With Skid-Resistant Fill

Dear Street Smart:

In recent months a potentially dangerous situation has developed on California 126 just west of the Los Angeles County line. After the Jan. 17 earthquake, repairs were made to the roadway that included adding a new layer of asphalt. With the hot summer weather, the asphalt softened and is now full of deep ruts made by the weight of passing cars and trucks. The roadway has also become very slick, and I fear that as the rainy season begins, this could become a volatile mix.

Kevin Potter, Santa Paula

Dear Reader:

Caltrans is aware of the softening asphalt problem.

To deal with it in the short term, Caltrans is planning to fill the ruts within the next several weeks, says traffic engineer Luu Nguyen.

To eliminate the slickness of the roadway, Caltrans will use a coarse fill to help increase friction, Nguyen says.

For the long term, all of the asphalt will be torn out and the roadway widened, as part of an ongoing project to overhaul the highway from Fillmore to the county line.

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Dear Street Smart:

This letter is in response to an item in the Street Smart column on Sept. 19 regarding Westlake Boulevard and Bridgegate Street in Thousand Oaks.

Assistant traffic engineer Jeff Knowles determined that there isn’t enough traffic coming from Bridgegate to warrant a four-way stop or traffic signal where that street intersects with Westlake.

Mr. Knowles, you missed the point.

The problem isn’t the number of cars; it’s the number of people who need to cross the street.

We in the Foxmoor Cove subdivision have children who need to cross Westlake to get to school.

I encourage you to interview our brave crossing guard, Virginia, who can’t get the cars to stop so she can help our children cross the street.

Incidentally, there is no crossing guard on duty to help the kids coming home from the junior high school in the afternoon.

Not long ago, my walking partner and I made it halfway across the intersection only to watch cars zoom by; not only do cars not stop, but they also travel at a dangerously high rate of speed.

Mr. Knowles, when a pedestrian gets hit at that intersection, it will not be a broken arm or leg, it will be a fatality!

I encourage you to reconsider your decision regarding that intersection. Make the pedestrian crosswalk a safe place to cross the street.

Denise M. Landenberger, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

You are not alone in admonishing Jeff Knowles and the Thousand Oaks traffic department for the decision not to install a traffic signal or four-way stop sign at the Bridgegate-Westlake intersection.

Knowles says he has received several calls and letters from unhappy residents in the past week, as has Street Smart.

Using the same standards by which all intersections are judged, however, the city stands fast in its assertion that neither stop signs nor a signal are necessary.

“We asked the residents to point out anything that would make this intersection unusual so we could consider making an exception,” Knowles says. “But there really isn’t anything out of the ordinary.”

Knowles suggests that residents insistent on getting signs or a signal at the intersection contact Caltrans, which shares responsibility for the area.

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Dear Street Smart:

I’m puzzled by a mysterious message posted on a sign near Moorpark.

For quite a while, the Moorpark city limit sign on the west end of town (on eastbound California 118) has had the following statement added to the bottom in tiny letters: “10,000,000 low cuts checked -0- found.”

Do you have any idea what this could possibly mean?

Why hasn’t Caltrans painted over or removed this additional sentence?

David S. Weinstein, Moorpark

Dear Reader:

Caltrans is as stumped about the sign as you are.

Although the world of transportation engineering is rife with rituals and vocabulary incomprehensible to the uninitiated, there is no such practice as “checking low cuts,” says traffic engineer Luu Nguyen.

“It is a confusing message that means nothing to us,” Nguyen says. “We believe this was the work of a prankster.”

The message has been removed.