Kalorama Street Is Rooted in Controversy Over Trees

Dear Street Smart:

What’s with those trees in the middle of the road on Kalorama Street in Ventura? It seems like they are very dangerous for drivers who are not familiar with the area.

How did the road get to be paved with the trees off the curb like that? I’m wondering why the road isn’t narrower or whether anyone considered removing those trees altogether. Also, how many times have drivers who weren’t paying attention crashed into the trees?

Hubes Flanagan

Ventura

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Dear Reader:

Not surprisingly, employees at City Hall say the swaying palms along Kalorama Street are probably in the street because the only alternative was to chop them down.

But no one can say with any certainty.

Traffic analyst Nazir Lalani said he always assumed that his predecessors were confronted with either allowing the huge palms in the roadway, or removing them.

“It’s very unusual,” Lalani said. “In all my 25 years of traffic engineering, spanning two continents, I have not seen it.”

Jerry Revard, who was the city arborist for 15 years before being named parks supervisor, said he, too, does not know why the trees are in the road.

“It happened so long ago,” Revard said. “The street was widened some time back, and they apparently wanted to save the trees.”

Lalani said the stop sign at Kalorama and Santa Clara streets had to be moved into the street four years ago because some drivers complained that it was blocked by the trees.

There are no specific numbers available regarding accidents along Kalorama Street.

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Dear Street Smart:

On Erbes Road between Olsen Road and Sunset Hills Boulevard in Thousand Oaks, there is a serious road hazard for bicyclists.

When descending Erbes Road northbound, just before passing under the California 23 freeway, there is a patch of uneven pavement that drops about an inch without warning.

Also, there is a manhole that sticks out about an inch. I don’t know why this patch of road was not repaved when they repaved the road last year.

Bikes descend on Erbes Road at approximately 35 mph, and the sudden drop in pavement and the protruding manhole cover could cause significant damage to cyclists who are unaware of the pavement drop.

The city should fix the pavement or identify this road hazard before someone loses control of their bike and sustains a serious injury.

Kurt S. Pommerening

Simi Valley

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Dear Reader:

Sometimes answers from City Hall are more simple than anyone would ever guess.

Based on your letter, by the time you read this, traffic officials already will have installed temporary signs warning drivers and cyclists about the wicked two bumps you described.

Engineers say the road will be smoothed over completely before Leap Day, at the end of this month.

“Although the city expected this project to be completed a year and a half ago, the problem was that the developers [at the new subdivision nearby] ran into funding problems and construction stopped,” said Jeff Knowles, the Thousand Oaks traffic engineer.

Knowles said your letter is a good example of why residents should call his office to register this type of concern.

“When somebody notices a problem like this, they should call the city and report it,” he said. “We were not aware of it, and indeed it did merit a warning sign through the construction phase.”

You can reach Knowles at (805) 449-2416.

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Dear Street Smart:

Last year I noted that an obviously hazardous blind curve condition existed in Moorpark that could lead to serious injury to cyclists and motorists who routinely access California 23 from Tierra Rejada Road near Moorpark.

A bike lane extends along Tierra Rejada Road and continues southbound on California 23 as far as Olsen Road.

First of all, a bike lane on the freeway is certainly an unusual situation.

The problem is that most motorists entering the southbound freeway onramp cheat to their right, and stray into the painted bike lane because of the angle of the curve. I’ve seen this happen many times.

A motorist traveling around the onramp curve onto the freeway cannot possibly see a cyclist at the apex of the curve because of the numerous pepper trees parallel to the bike lane. Even at a moderate speed of 35 to 40 mph, a motorist would overtake a cyclist too quickly to react.

Will you look into this condition before someone is injured?

Jack A. Herman

Moorpark

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Dear Reader:

An investigation by engineers from the state Department of Transportation concluded that there are no problems with the freeway-based bike lane.

“All signings [and] stripings for this bike lane are in good condition and in accordance to Caltrans standards,” said Luu Nguyen, who supervises Ventura County Caltrans crews.

“No incident related to this bike lane per our record so far,” he said in a written response to the question.

But, Nguyen said, he will direct his workers to install some traffic-control devices--possibly signs or flashing lights--to warn drivers about the bike lane and to trim the nearby pepper trees.