Quake Bumped 101-PCH Interchange off Priority List

Dear Street Smart:

I live in Oxnard and drive to Thousand Oaks to work almost every day.

When I’m coming home, I take the Ventura Road off-ramp from the northbound Ventura Freeway, and invariably there are a bunch of cars that swerve from the right lane into the two left lanes to continue over the Santa Clara River bridge into Ventura.

This creates a hazard for those of us who exit at Ventura Road to get into Oxnard.

I’m wondering why they don’t add some north-bound lanes to the freeway where all that traffic backs up and people in the right lane don’t realize that it’s an exit-only lane.

Cheryl Timpani, Oxnard

Dear Reader:

Motorists have been asking that question a long time, Caltrans officials say. So, several years ago engineers went to work designing a new interchange for the Ventura Freeway-Pacific Coast Highway junction.

Unfortunately, the need to retrofit many of the state’s freeways after the Northridge earthquake bumped the $58-million project from a priority list and pushed the improvements back to 1998, said Caltrans traffic engineer Luu Nguyen.

Caltrans crews are working with the cities of Oxnard and Ventura to design and pay for the project, which will include an extra northbound lane and push PCH over the Ventura Freeway so it merges on the right side, he said.

“The project will run from Vineyard Avenue to Johnson Drive and modify the whole interchange,” Nguyen said.

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Dear Street Smart:

Too often when driving around town I see drivers who blatantly disobey the traffic laws.

They’re playing music too loud and not paying attention to the road. Either they don’t signal before changing lanes or they change lanes unsafely. Many times they drive at unsafe speeds, ignoring the posted speed limit.

Why don’t the police enforce the traffic laws and ticket some of the horrendous violators? Something should be done about it.

Morris Levin, Newbury Park

Dear Reader:

Rest assured, Thousand Oaks’ finest are out in force, looking for the types of drivers you describe.

The Sheriff’s Department has four motorcycle officers and four patrol cars assigned to Thousand Oaks who are encouraged to issue tickets to outlaw drivers because they are the ones who cause accidents, Lt. Mike Brown said.

The trouble is, officers are not always around when moving violations occur.

“Those are serious violations that need to be addressed,” Brown said. “But we’re doing as much as possible and we keep looking for them.”

Brown does have a suggestion. “They can always ask the City Council to increase the number of officers we have out there working.”

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Dear Street Smart:

I live off Camino Dos Palos in north Thousand Oaks, and a lot of times when I’m at the intersection of Moorpark Road and Camino Dos Palos I have to wait a long time before it’s safe to turn onto Moorpark Road.

There is a stop sign at the corner, but if you’re on Camino Dos Palos and you’re trying to turn onto southbound Moorpark Road, you can’t see if anyone’s coming because it’s at the crest of a hill.

I’ve witnessed two accidents there, but there probably have been a lot more. A signal should be installed there because it’s the entrance to a huge neighborhood and a lot of traffic is going in and out.

Are there any plans to upgrade that intersection?

Steve Lober, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

It sounds like you’re out of luck.

Thousand Oaks transportation analyst Jeff Knowles said he has studied that intersection several times. But there are not enough residents in the area to warrant a traffic light, he said.

As residential development grew in your neighborhood, city planners monitored the Moorpark Road-Camino Dos Palos intersection, waiting to see if improvements were needed.

But state and federal guidelines say that the corner is not dangerous enough to warrant a signal, Knowles said. What’s more, he doesn’t expect it ever will.

“The tract is completed now, and there won’t be any additional traffic coming in or out,” Knowles said. “So they’re never going to be able to meet those guidelines to justify a traffic signal.”