Sepulveda Pass Bike Commute Has Downside

Dear Traffic Talk:

My wife and I commute by bicycle from Encino to Westwood. The only feasible route over the hill is Sepulveda Boulevard. Other routes are too steep and add significant extra climbing and distance.

Our commute is made dangerous by several road conditions that we believe could be easily alleviated.

While there’s a bike lane on the Valley side of the hill, it is blocked in several places by overgrown weeds, forcing cyclists to take the regular lane.

The bike lane ends at the tunnel under Mulholland.

The bike lane disappears below Skirball Center Drive, and the shoulder is unmarked, in generally poor repair and, in several places, completely blocked by mud and silt from last January’s mudslides.

Who could we call to get the shoulder cleared and the dividing line repainted?

Also, can anything be done to have the L.A. Basin side of Sepulveda designated a bicycle route?

Ben Schwartz

Encino

Dear Ben:

The Service Request Section of the Bureau of Street Services is in charge of maintaining city roads. To request the cleaning of a roadside, call the service line at (800) 996-2489.

Richard Evans , bureau superintendent, also said having a roadside area declared a bike path falls under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

For more information on the bike path, call (818) 756-8784 , Evans said.

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Dear Traffic Talk:

Cedros Avenue from Oxnard Street to Burbank Boulevard has become a speedway, not only for trucks, but for people using it as a shortcut to the San Diego Freeway.

Vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds are restricted on Cedros, which is entirely residential. Many people, children and adults, walk along the street, which has no sidewalk on the east side.

What, if anything, can be done to get these creeps to stop violating these laws?

L.J. Powers

Van Nuys

Dear L.J.:

An officer can be dispatched to the location if a concerned resident makes a call to the complaint line of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division.

A spokeswoman for the department said once the complaint is made, officers would patrol the area and issue tickets where necessary.

To make a complaint about traffic problems in the San Fernando Valley, call (818) 756-9203.

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Dear Traffic Talk:

Why is it that the Department of Motor Vehicles will renew licenses without any type of road test?

Bruce Knudsen

Canyon Country

Dear Bruce:

Generally the Department of Motor Vehicles requires that only people who have never had a license take a road test.

Road tests are waived for license renewals or for holders of licenses from other states or U.S. territories, because states recognize others’ licenses as valid, according to the 1998 Driver’s Handbook.

Driving tests are required for out-of-country license holders, however.

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Traffic Talk appears Fridays in The Times Valley Edition. Readers may submit comments and questions about traffic in the Valley to Traffic Talk, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted. To record your comments, call (818) 772-3303. Fax letters to (818) 772-3385. E-mail questions to valley@latimes.com