STUDIO CITY : Meeting Set on City Plan to Widen Bridge

A homeowners association has scheduled a meeting with representatives of two Los Angeles city councilmen and city engineers tonight to voice objections to a $1.6-million plan to widen the Tujunga Avenue bridge in Studio City.

City officials have said widening the bridge over the Los Angeles River just north of Ventura Boulevard is necessary to avoid traffic bottlenecks and to eliminate city liability if the narrow bridge were to cause an accident.

“No one is aware of any accident minor or major at that bridge,” said Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., which is holding the meeting.

Since the bridge is central to the neighborhood, residents would know if it was the cause of traffic or safety problems, he said.

In fact, widening the bridge from two to four lanes to match the width of Tujunga Avenue would increase vehicle speeds and hurt a growing business district in that area, Lucente said. There are better ways of dealing with the bridge, such as better signs, he added.

“We think this is the most extreme solution,” Lucente said.

“We’ve got a long list of projects that we would rather see that money spent on.”

For example, he said, the hillside areas damaged by recent rains need to be reinforced against landslides.

“What we suspect is that this has been on their list of improvements for a long time and it was planned because of projected increases in density and traffic,” Lucente said.

But the neighborhood has recently been rezoned for lower density, he said.

Tom Henry, planning deputy for Councilman Joel Wachs, said the councilman is waiting to hear the concerns of the residents, as well as from the city Bureau of Engineering before making a decision to support or oppose the project.

The bridge is on the border between Wachs’ district and that of Councilman John Ferraro.

Ferraro will also have representatives at the meeting.

“We want to have their concerns addressed, but also address the overriding safety concerns as well,” Henry said.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. at Vitello’s Restaurant upstairs, 4349 Tujunga Ave., Studio City.