Freeway Congestion

I am a truly frustrated and angry Los Angeles citizen.

In the 1980s, Caltrans added a diamond lane to the northbound 405 Freeway from West Los Angeles into the San Fernando Valley, using the left emergency lane. There was a big uproar and a lawsuit, and the diamond lane became the fifth lane.

To this day it has greatly reduced congestion. The left emergency lanes on the 101 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley also became fifth lanes, thereby reducing congestion considerably.

We desperately need [more lanes] on the southbound 405 Freeway, at least from the 101 Freeway to and through the Santa Monica Freeway (10).

The bottleneck at Mulholland causes a horrible, time-consuming backup on a daily basis. It started five or six years ago and is now to the point that it adds 20 minutes or more to a motorist’s commute to Century City or the airport, etc. It also wears nerves (“road rage”), wastes gasoline, wastes brakes and wastes productive time as well as adding to pollution with a bunch of near-idle automobiles.

A diamond lane will do no good. I have counted maybe two to four cars at a time during off hours--10:30 a.m. to noon, from Sherman Way south to the 101. By the way, I am not referring to rush hour. I am saying that this problem exists between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and even on weekends.

All that has to be done is to re-stripe the freeway. It is a minimal task--I have seen it done. It is a great way to use a small portion of the tax surplus, and you will gain a great many grateful commuter friends.

By the way, if it takes five years to get approved, it won’t be worth it. We need it now!

HOWARD CORMAN

Tarzana