Bids Expected Soon on Old Town Renovation

Calabasas is expected to advertise for bids next month on a project to spruce up Old Town Calabasas and ease traffic woes.

The city’s Calabasas Road Streetscapes Improvement Plan is designed to lure shoppers to Old Town, a collection of shops and restaurants. Officials expect the $1.8-million project to be completed by year’s end.

Plans include adding old-fashioned street lamps and boardwalks to enhance the district’s Old West flavor. To ease traffic, another lane would be added to Calabasas Road near Valley Circle Boulevard.

The city had hoped to be further along in the project at this point but ran into minor snags in obtaining funding, said Steve Harris, Calabasas community development director. The city plans to delay actual construction until Caltrans completes renovation of the Valley Circle interchange at the Ventura Freeway, he said.

Jim McAllister, a resident engineer for Caltrans, said the interchange work is expected to be completed by the end of June.

The interchange construction has created traffic bottlenecks in the area and discouraged motorists from venturing onto Calabasas Road, which has hurt business in Old Town and further west on Calabasas Road, said Carol Amenta, chief executive officer of the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce.

“For some of the merchants, it’s really hard,” she said. “But they are hanging in.”