QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT YOUR COMMUTE : When an <i> i</i> Without a Dot Is Not an <i> l</i>

Dear Traffic Talk:

Why are the i’s weird on the street signs in Northridge? They don’t have dots. P.S. Please write back and tell the answer.

Note from Jordan’s mom: Some of the places Jordan saw the weird i’s are Superior Street at Tampa Avenue, Vintage Street near the intersection of Vanalden Avenue and Lassen Street, and many more in that general area.

Jordan Michael Smith, age 8 Northridge

Dear Jordan:

According to David Royer, a principal engineer with the city Department of Transportation, the city sign shop leaves the dots off the lower-case i’s on street name signs--both pole signs and the larger signs hung over intersections--because the print on such signs is relatively small, and motorists could confuse a dotted i with an l.

Dear Traffic Talk:

I can’t stand it any longer! My problem is the onramp to the eastbound 118 Freeway at Tampa Avenue. On most days at 7:30 a.m., there are lines of cars waiting to get onto the freeway. Southbound cars on Tampa enter the onramp with a green left-turn arrow. Northbound traffic has two lanes from which to make a right turn.

Many times, both of these lanes are filled with autos, making it impossible for southbound cars to move from the left-turn lane. This is very frustrating, and I would like to suggest a “no right turn on red” sign during the morning rush hours.

Jim Crosbie

Northridge

Dear Jim:

City transportation engineer Ray Wellbaum said that it would not be a good idea to have a “no right turn on red” sign for northbound traffic because that would mean huge back-ups for northbound traffic and underutilization of the onramp.

Only about two or three times an hour do southbound cars have difficulty turning left onto the onramp, Wellbaum said.

Generally, by the next traffic-light cycle, a southbound car can turn left, he said.

Dear Traffic Talk:

Can you tell me how freeways acquired the numbers that they are known by, such as the 101, the 405 and the 5? I have heard that the numbers are based on whether the freeway is north-south or east-west.

Sushil Jain

Reseda

Dear Sushil:

According to Caltrans spokeswoman Pat Reid, north-south freeways have odd numbers and east-west freeways have even numbers. There are two national freeway numbering systems: the United States system and the newer Interstate system, established in 1963. The 101 is a U.S. freeway, and has a high number because the U.S. system gave the lowest numbers to East Coast freeways and assigned higher numbers as it moved west.

The Interstate system started on the West Coast and moved east; thus the low number for the Interstate 5. Interstate 405 is a three-digit number because it is considered a bypass freeway--as opposed to a mainline freeway such as the 5 or the 10--and it contains the number 5 because it branches off of Interstate 5.

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.