Freeway Study Gets $500,000 Federal Grant

Flanked by a handful of San Fernando Valley Democrats on the Nov. 3 ballot, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater on Tuesday announced a $500,000 federally funded study to end the gridlock at the Ventura-San Diego freeway interchange.

The Clinton cabinet member said the project comes at the request of Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), the freshman incumbent who has come under attack by his Republican challenger for failing to land adequate federal transportation dollars for the district.

The study will take a comprehensive look at traffic woes on the Ventura Freeway corridor, from Thousand Oaks to the Hollywood Freeway interchange, and explore a variety of solutions, from adding lanes to bolstering public transit.

Just when frustrated drivers will see those traffic improvements depends on the study’s findings and political battles over funding, Slater said.

“Today’s announcement is just the beginning,” Slater told reporters at the event, held atop the Sherman Oaks Radisson Hotel overlooking the San Diego Freeway interchange. “It is a significant step and will give us the kind of study necessary to determine the best approach as relates to the project.”

More than 550,000 vehicles a day pass through the Ventura-San Diego freeway interchange, making it the fourth-busiest freeway junction in California. The interchange was built in 1956.

Both Slater and Sherman denied the highway grant was related to Sherman’s campaign for reelection.

Still, Slater went out of his way to thank Sherman for supporting this year’s mammoth federal highway funding bill. He also praised Sherman’s votes on issues that have little to do with highways, saying he “stood strongly with the president” to preserve Social Security and add 100,000 teachers to the nation’s classrooms.

“I think you’ve got a great guy in congressman Sherman, but my purpose here today is to talk primarily about the $500,000 that we’re making available for this very important study,” Slater said.

Three other Democrats campaigning in the Valley joined Slater for the announcement: Assembly members Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), both running for reelection, and City Councilman Richard Alarcon, a Democrat running for state Senate in the 20th District. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky also attended.

The campaign manager for Republican Randy Hoffman, Sherman’s opponent, called Slater’s appearance and the $500,000 grant a clear case of political grandstanding.

“It’s pretty obvious. Here we are, six days before the election,” said the Hoffman campaign’s Todd Slosek.

Sherman defended the event, saying such announcements are commonplace throughout the year. The Radisson provided the facilities free of charge, he said.

“This is a press conference I would have any month of the year. We don’t stop representing the district just because it’s October of an even-numbered year,” Sherman said.

Tony Harris, Caltrans district director for the region, said a number of improvements are either underway or proposed for the Ventura-San Diego freeway interchange that should ease traffic relatively quickly.

Caltrans is widening the westbound 101 from Sepulveda Boulevard to Hayvenhurst Avenue to add a lane. Construction is scheduled to be completed in November.

In January, Caltrans is scheduled to begin construction to extend the carpool lane on the southbound 405 from the 101 interchange to Waterford Street.

“We think that will help with a lot of congestion that you see here today,” Harris said.

Two other projects to unsnarl traffic have been proposed but are yet to be funded: adding a lane on the northbound 405 from Mulholland Drive to the Sepulveda Boulevard offramp and adding a lane to the connector from the northbound 405 to the eastbound 101.

Last week, Knox asked the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide $10 million needed for those two projects to begin construction in 1999. The MTA promised only to consider the projects and consult with Caltrans and the California Transportation Authority.

Hertzberg said he’s been continually frustrated by MTA’s inaction and Caltrans officials’ wavering endorsement of the projects.

“It’s a down payment on progress,” Hertzberg said. “If we can’t do this, how are we going to move on to the more expensive projects.”