Looking 20 Years Down the Road for the Wider Picture

Dear Street Smart:

I can’t understand what masochist designed the freeways leading from Ventura County to Los Angeles. Why didn’t they have enough foresight to design the freeways so that they would accommodate all of the cars heading to Los Angeles?

I commuted for five years from Thousand Oaks to the San Fernando Valley before I quit because I couldn’t take it anymore. I pity the people who have to go there every day.

Jo Bernath, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

Freeway gridlock is a tender subject for state Department of Transportation officials, who maintain that they provide the best road and transportation services possible with their limited resources.

Luu Nguyen, who supervises Ventura County Caltrans crews, said state policy dictates that when freeways are drawn up, they are designed to accommodate traffic projections 20 years down the road.

On any given day, there are 85 million vehicle-miles traveled on Los Angeles area freeways, including 6 million vehicle-miles on the Ventura Freeway, he said.

“Caltrans does not have enough federal or state resources to build wider freeways to accommodate today’s traffic,” Nguyen said. But “Caltrans is always trying to make the most efficient use of the existing transportation facilities.”

Not surprisingly, Nguyen stresses that car-pooling, buses and commuter trains will reduce freeway congestion.

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Dear Street Smart:

My question is about the speed bumps that slow down traffic on many of the streets in Thousand Oaks.

They don’t seem to work.

If you go over them at 15 m.p.h., they are bumpier than if you drive over them at 25 m.p.h. Because of that, most drivers speed over the bumps at 25 m.p.h. or faster, so they don’t slow down traffic at all.

It turns out that they’re more of a hindrance than anything else. What about that?

Wil Trautmann, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

City traffic analysts describe two types of speed bumps within Thousand Oaks: the humps that grace parking lots and those that slow traffic on residential streets.

The parking lot speed bumps are typically four inches high and six inches wide, but the humps on residential streets are completely different, running about three inches tall and stretching 12 feet, Thousand Oaks traffic analyst Jeff Knowles said.

“They were experimented with quite a bit before we started using them,” said Knowles, who stands by the bumps.

“The faster you hit it, the faster your tire is being forced from zero elevation to three inches,” he said. “So they are effective. There’s no question they slow down traffic.”

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Dear Street Smart:

I have a serious grievance about California 150 in the Upper Ojai Valley.

As a resident of Ojai, I often return home from the L. A. area via the Golden State Freeway, California 126 and California 150 in the evenings, heading west from the summit.

I believe that two or three signs are badly needed along California 150. The road is dark and someone unfamiliar with the nature of these curves could slide off the road at any speed.

There is also a place just before Sulphur Mountain Road where the highway is parallel with a narrow ditch or waterway. A driver who is unaware of this could easily roll into this ditch.

I trust you can check this out and Caltrans could rectify it--and save lives.

Mary Medda, Ojai

Dear Reader:

Caltrans engineers reviewed the stretch of California 150 you described as a result of your letter. However, after tracing the route you described, they determined that the existing signs meet the standard for that type of highway.

“Warning signs for the curves, including advisory speed limits and delineators, are in place,” said Luu Nguyen, Caltrans’ Ventura County supervisor.

“Even the power poles have the three yellow bands wrapped around them to help delineate the roadway,” he added.

Nonetheless, Nguyen said his road crews would consider installing additional roadside delineators to alert drivers to the roadway alignment.