Questions and Answers About Your Commute : Road Access? As Soon as We Can Afford It

Dear Traffic Talk:

Could you explain why there is no on- or off-ramp from the 118 freeway at White Oak Avenue even though there seems to be room for both?

Bob Harrigan

Granada Hills

Dear Reader:

The California Department of Transportation has a million reasons why an interchange hasn’t been installed there.

Steady residential development north of the freeway has certainly made the interchange a good idea. And you’re right about there being plenty of room for the ramps. Caltrans even graded along the westbound freeway lanes in preparation for an exit ramp.

Unfortunately, the department doesn’t have the $1 million it would take to pay for the interchange, said Caltrans spokesman Russ Snyder. And that price tag doesn’t include the expense of widening White Oak Avenue to accommodate the added traffic that would be generated by the new freeway access.

Any thoughts of installing the interchange must wait until Los Angeles wrings some funding out of developers who are looking to build in the area, Snyder said.

Builders often pay “impact fees,” funds used to offset the burdens a new project places on an area, such as additional traffic.

Dear Traffic Talk:

I ride a bicycle 75 to 200 miles a week, with most of my mileage spent riding to and from work. I notice far more cars breaking traffic laws without being cited than bicycles.

I can be--and have been--cited for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. Why do motorists seem to have complete immunity from this law? I am constantly seeing them zoom through stop signs and red traffic signals without even slowing.

In one case, I heard a beep as I was about to ride away from a newly green traffic signal. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a speeding car so I stopped again, and that car sailed through the intersection, as if beeping made it OK to run a red light.

Since bicycles are susceptible to the same rules of the road as everyone else, they also get the same rights as everyone else. Your thoughts?

Chris Friesen

Sunland

Dear Reader:

You’re right that bicyclists and motorists have the same rights and responsibilities. The Department of Motor Vehicles even addresses this in its 1995 California Driver Handbook:

“Drivers of motor vehicles must treat bicycle riders the same as drivers of other motor vehicles. Bicyclists are not out of place on the roadway--they are part of the traffic and share the road with other drivers.”

This means anyone rolling through a stop sign or red light risks a traffic citation. The maneuver may be wryly referred to in some quarters as a “California stop,” but it is illegal no matter what sort of vehicle you’re controlling when you do it.

Traffic Talk appears Fridays in The Times Valley Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic in the Valley. Please write to Traffic Talk, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, Calif. 91311. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted. To record your comments, call (818) 772-3303. Send fax letters to (818) 772-3385.