Slow Down --and Avoid Dip Scrapes

Dear Traffic Talk:

Who were the people who decided to put 2-foot-wide water drainage trenches at the intersection of Magnolia Boulevard and Vineland Avenue and Lankershim Boulevard and Moorpark Street?

Anyone trying to drive through at the posted 35 mph speed limit will get to know their front-end alignment shop.

Gene Peak

Toluca Lake

Dear Gene:

If your car is scraping the same dip every day, maybe you should slow down, advises Frank Bonoff, Valley district engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Engineering.

The drainage trenches, also called cross-gutters, prevent water from traveling down streets that could easily flood.

The cross-gutter at Lankershim Boulevard and Moorpark Street was built in 1949 to keep Moorpark Street from flooding, Bonoff said. If the cross-gutters are removed, Lankershim Boulevard will flood. The intersection needs a storm drain 15 feet below Lankershim Boulevard, but the city can’t afford the project, Bonoff said.

The cross-gutter at Vineland Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard has also been there since before 1950 to keep water off Vineland. But this situation is different. A storm drain was built there in 1998, and the cross-gutters can be taken out, Bonoff said. But the entire intersection needs to be reconstructed to take out the dip, and the city doesn’t have money for that project either, he said.

There’s no word on when either intersection will be fixed, Bonoff said.

“If the city gives us money, we can do anything,” he said. “But right now, our hands are tied.”

Dear Traffic Talk:

As a resident of Chatsworth for almost 30 years, I have hoped against hope that one day I would be able to drive south on Mason Avenue all the way from Devonshire Street to Ventura Boulevard.

Eureka! Some years ago, I read that money had been appropriated and plans approved for the railway crossing on Mason Avenue, just south of Plummer Avenue, to be modified for through traffic. Nothing has been done.

Can you please cast some light on the problem?

David L. Voss

Chatsworth

Dear David:

Although the project is considered a “top priority” by city officials, it’s going to be a few more years before your hope becomes a reality, according to Los Angeles Department of Transportation officials.

A lack of funding has delayed construction for a few years, said Haripal Vir, a senior transportation engineer for the department.

Although the Southern California Public Utilities Commission agreed in 1997 to build the crossing, it asked the city to finish some other projects first.

The city received more than $650,000 from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1997 to complete those projects. This year the city is asking for another $1.4 million to fulfill the utilities commission’s demands. City officials will know by July if the MTA will grant the funds.

If the money is approved, construction for the crossing could start by May 2002 and it could open by January 2003.

Dear Traffic Talk:

Every morning I get stuck behind the same school bus. The bus turns on the flashing red lights and a stop sign folds out from the side of the bus.

Am I required to stop and then proceed when safe as I do at a stop sign? Or am I required to stop and proceed only when the lights are turned off and the sign withdrawn as I do at a red light?

--Richard Wixen

Calabasas

Dear Richard:

You would stop for the school bus as you would for a red light, according to Officer Frank Sandoval, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

You may proceed when the red lights stop flashing and the stop sign folds back. Violators of the 1997 law face fines starting at $400, Sandoval said. To avoid delays every morning, try leaving your house a little earlier, he advises.

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. Fax letters to (818) 772-3385. E-mail questions to valley.news@latimes.com.