MTA Urged to Speed Up Freeway Interchange Work
Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) has called on transportation officials to speed up a $10-million project to ease the gridlock at the Ventura-San Diego freeway interchange.
The freeway improvements can begin as early as February, thanks to nearly $1 billion in new transportation funding being made available statewide. The improvement has yet to become a priority for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The MTA, which is chaired by Mayor Richard Riordan, has until the beginning of December to amend its priority list for highway, rail and other transportation projects it wants funded under the state’s transportation spending plan.
Knox, who is running for reelection, urged the MTA to put the traffic-snarled intersection of the 101 and 405 freeways “at the top of the list.”
“For years, all the transportation authorities have given the 405/101 interchange short shrift,” he said. “It’s time to pay attention to the needs of the Valley and the needs of the West Side.”
More than 555,000 vehicles a day pass through the interchange, making it the fourth busiest freeway junction in Southern California. But the state Department of Transportation’s plan to ease congestion remains unfunded.
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