Removing Right-Turn Lane Would Be a Wrong Move

Dear Street Smart:

I have become increasingly aggravated by the traffic plan at the intersection of Erbes Road and Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks.

When traveling west on Hillcrest Drive, there are two through-traffic lanes. But when you approach the intersection at Erbes, the through traffic is funneled into one lane.

The slow lane becomes a right-turn-only lane. This is convenient for right-turners onto Erbes Road, but it compromises the convenience and safety of the through traffic.

What if all intersections were made this way? The result would be disastrous to traffic flow and safety.

Russell E. Leary

Agoura

Dear Reader:

The reason that section of Hillcrest Drive is a right-turn-only lane is simple: Traffic counts show that many drivers turn right at the westbound intersection of Erbes Road.

Traffic analyst Jeff Knowles, whose job is to regulate streets and traffic circulation in Thousand Oaks, said that 60% of the drivers are turning right there during the peak evening hours.

During morning peak hours, 37% of the drivers are making that turn, he said.

“If there was just one through car in that curbside lane, nobody could turn right, and they would all sit there,” Knowles said.

What’s more, Knowles said, the existing signals allow for better circulation through all directions of the intersection.

“When the southbound left-turn traffic has a green arrow, the westbound right turn also has a green arrow,” he said. “This way, we can move those two movements concurrently.

“This is the most efficient way to move traffic through that intersection,” Knowles said.

Dear Street Smart:

It may be too late, but at the bike route between Arundell Avenue and Channel Drive, it looks like they’re repaving it, and I wanted to make sure they put a bike path in there.

It’s a bike route, and cars go speeding around that corner and there are no lines on the street. It makes me very nervous to ride because I ride along there with my daughter.

Brian Watnick

Ventura

Dear Reader:

The repaving project along Arundell Avenue, Market Street, Channel Drive and throughout that neighborhood is nearly complete.

City construction workers began the $400,000 project earlier this year and have finished most of it, except for the striping, said Nazir Lalani, the Ventura traffic engineer.

But the bad news is that there is no room for a bike lane along some stretches of Arundell, Lalani said.

“Usually when we resurface streets, we try to add bike lanes when we can,” Lalani said. “We added close to 10 miles of bike lanes in the nine years I’ve been here.

“We try to fit them in whenever we can because they really do work,” said Lalani, who added that bike lanes will be installed once again where they existed previously but said there is not enough room elsewhere.

Dear Street Smart:

In your June 26, 1995, column, you published a letter from me regarding the lack of speed-limit signs on southeast-bound California 118 through Saticoy.

There were no signs between a “Speed Limit 35” sign near the Santa Paula Freeway and another that reads “End 50 Speed Limit” after Vineyard Avenue.

Your response indicated that Luu Nguyen was aware of the situation, temporary signs might be installed, a reevaluation of the traffic flow would need to be done and the whole situation was only temporary.

Well, it is now more than a year since my letter was published, and I have seen no new speed limit signs--temporary or permanent.

My casual observations suggest that few drivers adhere to the 35-mph limit as they drive through Saticoy. Those of us who do drive 35 mph probably create something of a hazard by impeding the traffic flow.

It’s time for Caltrans to post accurate speed-limit signs and clear up the confusion.

David S. Weinstein

Moorpark

Dear Reader:

Officials from the state Department of Transportation, which is responsible for state highways and the accompanying speed-limit signs, admitted that they experienced a few problems installing the promised signs since you wrote last year.

Specifically, spokeswoman Pat Reid said, the realignment of California 118 through Saticoy slowed down the installation.

“The Saticoy 118 was recently reconstructed and the alignment was changed,” Reid said. “There were changes made in the alignment during construction.”

The good news, Reid said, is that new signs are on the way.

“Speed signs have been ordered, and they are expected to be installed eight weeks from now,” she said. “Some signs had to be reordered and replaced, [but] eight weeks from now, they’ll have new signs up in that area.”

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.