Timing Is Everything for Motorists at Moorpark Signals

Dear Street Smart:

Yesterday, I was in Moorpark trying to go to K mart by turning left at the signal from Los Angeles Avenue (California 118) onto the Liberty Bell entrance to the shopping center.

The delay was extreme.

Four other cars and I waited through several gaps in the approaching traffic. Some drivers went on to make an illegal left turn into the main driveway east of the signalized intersection.

Caltrans needs to reevaluate the signal timing . . . before some impatient motorist causes an accident.

Can you help?

Robert E. Warren

Camarillo

Dear Street Smart:

I am concerned about the timing of several traffic signals in the city of Moorpark.

On Los Angeles Avenue, at the intersections of Liberty Bell and Park Lane, if one wishes to turn left into the K mart/Albertson’s shopping center, the wait for a left-turn arrow is interminable.

It appears that even when there is no other traffic, a vehicle must wait up to a minute before the left-turn arrow appears. This signal should be triggered regardless of whether other traffic is present.

The signal at the intersection of Tierra Rejada and Mountain Trail should also be fixed.

When a vehicle pulls up to the light from Mountain Trail to wait for the signal to change, the green light on Tierra Rejada temporarily goes yellow but then goes back to green. After about 15 seconds, the signal then operates normally.

What can be done to improve the timing of these signals?

Douglas A. Anderson

Moorpark

Dear Readers:

Obviously, this is a situation that has crossed the minds of many drivers as they await their entrance into the K mart shopping plaza.

Moorpark Public Works Director Ken Gilbert said he too is concerned about the existing green arrow at Liberty Bell.

So much so, in fact, that he pledged to bring it up during meetings he has planned with Caltrans engineers, who must approve any changes to the signalization because that section of Los Angeles Avenue is part of California 118.

“We’re not happy with the timing that Caltrans installed at that intersection,” Gilbert said. “We’re aware of the problem and we’re working toward making it better.”

As for the apparent malfunctioning of the signal at Tierra Rejada and Mountain Trail, Gilbert was unaware of any problem, but promised to have his inspection crew investigate.

Dear Street Smart:

I’ve lived in Camarillo for 25 years now and I’m quite upset that there’s no onramp from Arneill Road to the northbound side of the Ventura Freeway, and that there’s no offramp from the southbound side at Arneill.

It seems like it would be feasible by looking at the embankments and street facings. Why hasn’t anyone thought about this or designed it when it is the center of town?

We have to drive all the way through town to Carmen Drive just to hit the freeway.

Warren Matsui

Camarillo

Dear Reader:

Many people before you have studied the site for on- and offramps.

In fact, city and state traffic officials already have designed improvements to the freeway around the Arneill Road section of Camarillo.

But the bad news is that the new on- and offramps are years away.

“We have a project that’s in the design stage,” Camarillo City Engineer Tom Fox said. “There will be a full set of on- and offramps approximately between Lewis Road and the current Fulton Bridge.

“It’s been approved, but it depends on funding,” he said.

New ramps are scheduled to be built around Lewis Road, which doubles as a state highway, so the project is primarily the responsibility of Caltrans, according to Fox, who also must sign off on the proposed design.

Fox said the improvements are included in Caltrans’ 1999 budget, but he added that things can always change, depending on priorities that are constantly shifting.

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