Blame Earthquake for Bumpy Freeway Ride
* No doubt people with better engineering credentials than mine (none) will reply to Stu Nahan (“Ventura Freeway: It’s Hell on Wheels,” Aug. 13) regarding the bumpy Ventura Freeway east of the San Diego (405).
Neither Caltrans nor contractors have raised the bridges that cross major thoroughfares. In fact, those reinforced structures did just what they were designed to do: stay where they were. It’s the freeway that’s lower on either side.
It was the Northridge earthquake that literally tamped down the dirt ramps under the roadbed by several inches. After all, that part of the Valley is just young and soft alluvial fill--exactly the reason those other guys are having trouble tunneling through it.
To the best of my knowledge, Caltrans has done what it can so far to ease the freeway problem by trying to smooth the vertical transitions. Long-term repair undoubtedly will be expensive, inconvenient and take time. Guess we’re all eager for more of that.
Sorry to tell Stu, but of all those wheel alignments he’s had to have “in the past four or five years,” he can only blame that portion of the Ventura Freeway for anything in the last 19 months.
By the way, I got my information from The Times, so it seems like you folks might have explained this to him instead of running a photo and a caption pondering the mystery.
GEORGE BOWDEN
Encino
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