QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT YOUR COMMUTE : Readers Offer Pathways to Improvement

Traffic Talk once knew a transportation engineer who now works in a San Francisco suburb. He said of Los Angeles, where he once worked, “It’s great to be a transportation engineer in Los Angeles, because there’s no danger of running out of work.” But for nearly every traffic problem, there is a solution, and this week, readers weigh in with their ideas.

Dear Traffic Talk:

I’d like to make a suggestion about improving freeway signs. Most freeway exits have an overhead sign with the street name a couple of hundred feet ahead of the exit, and a simple “Exit” sign at the beginning of the exit. When you are in the right lane and behind a truck or a bus, these huge vehicles often obscure the overhead sign.

The “Exit” sign is visible when you come to the exit, but you can’t tell which exit it is. This is a problem when you have two or three exits that are close to each other. My suggestion is to put a small street-name sign under the exit sign. I hope Caltrans will give some thought to this suggestion.

Boby Austin

North Hollywood

Dear Traffic Talk:

The intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Balboa Boulevard near Sylmar is used by many commuters traveling to the West Valley via Balboa and to the eastbound Foothill Freeway from Sierra Highway. The resulting backup can extend for more than two miles on these very narrow roads. The mess reverses itself in the evenings.

The westbound lane of Foothill is wide enough for two lanes, but currently, all the traffic lines up in the middle of this very wide lane, and those wishing to make a left turn onto Balboa must wait until all through traffic ahead has passed by the signal.

I would suggest re-striping Foothill--westbound, east of Balboa--so that there are two lanes, with the left lane for left-turn traffic onto Balboa. The lanes on northbound Balboa should also be redone to form a left-turn and a right-turn lane.

Bill Lynch

Porter Ranch

Dear Traffic Talk:

Going east on Moorpark Street at Laurel Canyon Boulevard, the road narrows considerably. It causes a jam-up during the morning and afternoon hours. If the city would put up a “No Stopping” sign--targeting these hours--it would help, because it is the parked cars in that one block that cause the problem.

Barbara Collins

Studio City

Dear Traffic Talk:

There have been an increasing number of fatalities involving cars at railroad crossings. One cause of these accidents is lapses of judgment by otherwise careful drivers. What I am talking about is the practice of cars piling up behind a stoplight, even if that means their car ends up on the railroad tracks. I understand that traffic lights near railroad tracks are programmed to automatically turn green when a train is approaching, but you don’t have very much time to get out of the way.

What if the car ahead should stall? What if your car should stall, or what if there is gridlock? I think that it is important to remind the driving public that to stop on railroad tracks can be fatal.

Arnold Di Giulio

Encino

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 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. Fax letters to (818) 772-3385.