City Must Clear Overgrowth, Caltrans Says

Dear Traffic Talk:

The problem is the area from the sound wall to the curb along the 9300 and 9500 blocks of Sharp Avenue in Arleta, west of the Golden State Freeway.

This area has been a problem since Caltrans built the sound wall years ago. They took out mature growth and planted these tiny, dried-up trees. It gets completely overgrown every year, with vegetation piercing through the fence out into the street.

Caltrans did come out last week and cut down the dried growth from the sound wall to the fence, leaving the area from the fence to the street still overgrown.

Caltrans says the area over the fence does not belong to them.

The city also tells me the area does not belong to them, though they did come out last year after I called them and told them there was going to be an accident from the bushes growing out into the street.

I really don’t care which agency it belongs to. As a taxpayer, I just want it cleaned up.

Jean Ball

Arleta

Dear Jean:

Caltrans owns the property from the sound wall right up to the fence, according to the agency.

The sidewalk just over the fence should be the responsibility of the city of Los Angeles.

Caltrans will send information to the city to clarify ownership, said Pat Reid, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Crews from her agency have cleaned up this whole area and other similar locations in the past, she said. The agency recognizes that the overgrowth on both sides of the fence is a problem and someone should take care of it.

Unfortunately, with increasing inventory of work but dwindling resources for Caltrans, the agency can no longer afford to spend time working outside its jurisdiction without compromising its own responsibilities, Reid said.

Dear Traffic Talk:

At the intersections of Temescal Canyon Road, Sunset Boulevard and Topanga Canyon Boulevard along the northbound Pacific Coast Highway, there are right-turn pockets that are not posted “right turn only.”

Beyond each intersection is an extra merging lane for cars entering the highway.

It is possible for a northbound Pacific Coast Highway motorist to use these lanes, which I have heard referred to as “gutter balling,” to pass jammed-up or slow-moving cars and merge back into the traffic flow a substantial distance ahead of where the motorist had been originally.

Is this legal?

Frank Kelley

Topanga

Dear Frank:

The Temescal Canyon Road intersection with Pacific Coast Highway is clearly marked and signed “right turn only,” according to Caltrans.

A through-traffic movement from that lane is not legal, said Reid, the agency’s spokeswoman.

However, at the intersections with Sunset Boulevard and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, the No. 3 lane is not marked “right turn only” because that lane is for through traffic with the option to turn right, Reid said.

Reid said the merge lanes at the north legs of the intersections are meant to increase the capacity of the intersection but are not for motorists to pass jammed-up or slow-moving traffic.

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