Residents Told of Sound Wall Funding

Residents of the College Acres and Melody Acres neighborhoods near the Ventura Freeway in Tarzana and Woodland Hills got good news and bad news from Caltrans officials about a sound wall they had been promised along the north side of the freeway.

At a meeting Thursday night with Caltrans and representatives of local and state legislators, the residents were told the sound wall will probably be funded in 1998.

Even if approved then, however, the allocation would be funded over seven years from the State Transportation Improvement Program and residents would not see a sound wall until 2004.

Councilwoman Laura Chick called the meeting to discuss the situation with state representatives and residents to ensure that the sound wall is built, said Ken Bernstein, Chick’s planning deputy.

“It is a state issue, but Councilwoman Chick felt she can be helpful and be a facilitator on this,” Bernstein said. “We felt that is was a productive meeting, but it was kind of a sobering reality talk when we found out how long it takes to get these things funded.”

Housing north of the Ventura Freeway between Winnetka Avenue and Reseda Boulevard predated the freeway.

Residents were promised a sound wall to shield them from noise and maintain the area’s rural flavor, but the wall has been passed over or removed from the list of projects many times since the 1970s, Bernstein said.

The most recent delays came in 1994 and then in 1996, when earthquake retrofitting and repairs became a priority for funding over sound walls.

Now, he said, this wall is high on the list and it has a good chance of being funded.

Meanwhile, Bernstein said, interim projects are being planned to lessen the noise from the freeway, including road improvements and landscaping work on the freeway.