Traffic Planners Are on Pace to Ease Fillmore Bottleneck

Dear Street Smart:

My concern is with the intersection of A Street and California 126 in Fillmore.

With the recent addition of the Balden Shopping Center, north- and southbound traffic creates a bottleneck during peak traffic times of the day.

Why doesn’t the city of Fillmore or Caltrans stripe the north- and southbound lanes to allow for the left lane to be left-turn only, and the right lane to be for either through traffic or right turns only?

There have been several accidents at this location because of the poor traffic-flow situation.

Dennis Adams

Fillmore

Dear Reader:

City and state transportation planners are way ahead of you.

They plan to make improvements to the intersection of California 126 and A Street in Fillmore during the next fiscal year, which ends June 1997.

Caltrans engineers and planners from the city of Fillmore already have set aside $700,000 for the job, said Pat Reid, a Caltrans spokeswoman.

“Caltrans has a cooperative project with the city of Fillmore to widen that intersection and improve the signal,” Reid said. “A left-turn signal will be installed at that time.”

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Dear Street Smart:

At the intersection of Madera Road and Royal Avenue in Simi Valley, traffic heading north on Madera and turning east onto Royal is stopped when the traffic signal goes from green to red before turning to a green right-turn signal.

Can the light sequence be changed when applicable to go from green to green right-turn signal without the red in between?

Thanks for your consideration.

Mitchell Krasnoff

Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

The answer, as you might expect, is yes, the traffic light sequence could easily be altered.

But that is not likely.

Simi Valley traffic engineer Bill Golubics said that the red-light sequences at that intersection are designed as a built-in safety device for pedestrians and drivers who enter the intersection from Royal Avenue.

“At Madera Road and Royal Avenue, yellow traffic signal displays for Madera Road motorists are followed by a one-second time period when all the signal indications in the intersections are red,” Golubics said.

“This is done to add an extra measure of safety for the drivers and pedestrians who enter the intersection next from Royal Avenue,” he said. “It’s an all-red integral to allow traffic on Madera Road to clear.”

Golubics admitted that the design slows down traffic. But that, he said, is precisely the point.

“This momentary delay does require some northbound, right-turning drivers to stop for one second,” he said. “But we feel this is a very small inconvenience for the extra safety that’s provided.”

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Dear Street Smart:

The leadoff question in your column recently addressed the improvements made at the intersection at Central and Santa Clara avenues outside Camarillo.

I have the same question regarding the traffic signal at Hueneme and Las Posas roads. Is there any plan in the future to upgrade that to a full signal?

John Waite

Camarillo

Dear Reader:

County planners are always quick to answer questions like yours when they already have planned, and budgeted, for the improvements.

“We have a project that is already in design,” reports Butch Britt, one of the top transportation planners for Ventura County.

“We’re in the process of negotiating for the purchase of a little bit of additional right of way, because it involves putting in a left-turn lane on Hueneme Road,” Britt said.

The $200,000 project is scheduled to begin late this year.

“It will probably take until March of next year to be finished,” he said, “assuming everything goes right.”

Write to Street Smart, The Times Ventura County Edition, 93 S. Chestnut St., Ventura 93001. You may enclose a simple sketch if it will help Street Smart understand your traffic questions. Or call our Sound Off Line, 653-7546. Whether writing or calling, include your full name, address, and day and evening phone numbers. No anonymous queries will be accepted, and letters are subject to editing.