Sherman Oaks : Commuters Backed in Effort to Use Shortcut

Commuters fighting to continue using residential streets in western Sherman Oaks to bypass Sepulveda Boulevard won a victory this week, when City Councilman Mike Feuer threw his support behind them.

Sharon Mayer, Feuer’s chief field deputy, said the councilman made his decision after commuters and area residents flooded his office with phone calls requesting that they be allowed to continue using Scadlock Lane and other roads instead of Sepulveda.

The commuters said that the residential streets are public roads and they have a right to use them, Mayer said on Thursday.

The city Department of Transportation recently proposed restricting access to those streets in response to complaints from neighbors that quiet residential streets were being turned into speedways. But Mayer said that some neighbors actually opposed the traffic restrictions, saying they would pose an inconvenience to residents.

The department’s proposal would have prohibited drivers on Valley Vista Boulevard, Greenleaf Street, Sutton Street and Mulholland Drive from making turns onto Saugus Avenue, Woodcliff Road and Longbow Drive during peak commuting hours.

At a community meeting Wednesday night that Feuer had originally intended to use as a forum to discuss the proposal, attendees instead turned their attention to alternative solutions to the speeding problem.

Some of the suggestions that the city and community will consider include prohibiting parking near blind turns on Scadlock, installing more speed-limit signs and posting signs that flash the speed a motorist is going.

Harold Papco, a West Hills resident who uses the shortcuts to get to work in Beverly Hills, said he was happy that the turn restrictions are no longer being considered.

“I am excessively ecstatic,” he said. “It saves us 2 1/2 miles each day.”