Repair Scheduled for Street Lamp Damaged by Rains

Dear Street Smart:

The street lamp at the transition on-ramp from the northbound Ventura Freeway to the eastbound Santa Paula Freeway has been out for months.

Why can’t we get it fixed?

Sam Braslaw, Santa Paula

Dear Reader:

It may seem incredible to blame yet another street-related mishap on the rain, but here goes:

The heavy winter rains pummeled street lamps throughout Southern California, leaving maintenance workers to dash about replacing frazzled bulbs and rewiring damaged electrical systems, says Fred Cubillas, state Department of Transportation maintenance manager.

The lamp at the Ventura and Santa Paula freeways is on the list, and its bulb will be replaced within the next several weeks, he says.

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Dear Street Smart:

Now that the Simi Valley Freeway off-ramp at Yosemite Avenue has a signal, it seems like some changes are in order for the intersection.

The problem is that cars trying to turn right are often blocked.

The way the lanes are set up now, one lane is reserved just for cars turning left, while the other is shared by cars turning left and those turning right.

This means that right-turning cars get stuck at red lights behind cars waiting for the green so they can turn left.

Why not change this so that one lane is for cars turning left and the other for cars turning right?

F. McNamee, Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

The reason left-turning cars get to turn from both lanes is that there are so many more of them than there are cars turning right.

At least that was the case the last time that Caltrans checked.

In 1992, 682 cars passed through the intersection in a one-hour period, and 460 of them turned left, Traffic Engineer Luu Nguyen says.

After studying growth patterns in the area, Caltrans predicted that over the years, total traffic would likely increase, but cars turning left would continue to make up the bulk of the traffic.

So they allowed cars to turn left from both lanes.

Just to make sure, Caltrans will conduct a new traffic count in response to your request.

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Dear Street Smart:

The logic regarding “Intersection Signals Are Keeping Pace With Pedestrians” absolutely eludes me (Street Smart, March 13).

By leaving five seconds of solid red before allowing the cross traffic to start, our traffic engineers are creating situations where we are going to be scofflaws.

I don’t understand why they would do that.

Leonard Loomis, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

Perhaps you misunderstood the explanation of signal timing for pedestrians.

City engineers use an industry standard that calls for one second of walking time for four feet of roadway.

Most people move faster than that, but the timing is set up to accommodate slower walkers and people in wheelchairs.

The March 13 column mentioned Moorpark Road at Gainsborough Road in Thousand Oaks.

That road is 93 feet wide so, according to the industry standard, pedestrians should have about 23 seconds to get across.

The signal includes seven seconds of the white walking figure and 16 seconds of the red flashing hand, for a total of 23 seconds of walking time.

In addition, the solid red hand is visible for 5 1/2 seconds before cross traffic gets a green light.

The idea in providing the 5 1/2 additional seconds is not to encourage pedestrians to break the law, but to provide an extra buffer for slow walkers.