At Last, Valley Circle Interchange Opens

West Valley residents and officials, along with Caltrans workers, breathed a collective sigh of relief Thursday as the last phase of the Valley Circle interchange project, which caused nightmare traffic problems for more than two years, was finally opened to traffic.

“I always knew it would happen,” said Phyllis Power, director of the nearby Leonis Adobe Museum. “It was just getting it done and getting traffic through that was difficult. We’re delighted to have it finished.”

To mark the opening of the eastbound onramp to the Ventura Freeway, Caltrans held a ceremony at Calabasas Creek Park, featuring speeches from members of the Calabasas and Los Angeles city councils and Calabasas Chamber of Commerce.

Many speeches noted the patience displayed by motorists and residents during construction, which began in January 1994 and was originally scheduled for completion in October 1995.

The delay, according to Caltrans spokeswoman Patricia Reid, “was due to a series of unforeseen utility relocations.” One took six months to relocate a main water pipe and another involved burying electrical lines that originally were planned to be above ground, she said.

“Now that it’s over,” Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude told a group of about 30 people, “it’s a great joy to drive over it and to see it.”

The $15-million project included a new bridge connecting Valley Circle Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, new on- and offramps, a widening of the Calabasas Road-Mulholland Drive-Avenue San Luis intersection and road alignments of Ventura Boulevard, Leonora Drive and Long Valley Drive, Caltrans officials said.

Four new sound walls, two bicycle lanes and a 10-foot equestrian path also were added.

Within one minute of the unveiling of a freeway sign indicating that the onramp was available, Hidden Hills resident Marsha Spieler became the first to use it.

Little did she know that when she hopped in her Lexus to get gas and a carwash that she’d have media and Caltrans officials pounce on her as she tried to get on the freeway.

“I thought they were opening it at 10 in the morning,” she said, surprised by all the attention. “I assumed it would be done by now.”