405/101 Interchange to Be Studied

Rep. Brad Sherman on Wednesday announced the next step to loosening knotted traffic at the intersection of the Ventura and San Diego freeways--a $500,000 federally funded engineering study of three construction options.

Sherman, a Democrat from Sherman Oaks, said engineers with Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quaid and Douglas will narrow three gridlock-easing options to one. They will submit that recommendation to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by January.

An estimated 550,000 vehicles now pass through the interchange each day.

“I would say we’re two steps away from doing the construction now,” Sherman said. “The engineers will give us a firm picture of what it’s going to look like and give us a cost, not ranges and options.

“Then we’ll go to Caltrans and say, ‘This is the only project; fund it or don’t.’ ”

From “town hall” meetings with chambers of commerce and neighborhood associations, Sherman put together three options:

* Widening the one-lane connector from the southbound 405 to westbound 101, making it a two-lane ramp through the Sepulveda Basin.

* Extending the carpool lane on the northbound 405 south to Greenleaf Street. The lane now begins at Burbank Boulevard.

* Widening three 101 offramps east of the 405 interchange, to smooth the flow of traffic on the eastbound 101 and prevent it from backing up on the northbound 405.

“The projects will be useful by themselves, and are designed to be integrated with the major projects that Gov. Gray Davis recently submitted to the Legislature,” Sherman said.

He said if the project estimates go to MTA and Caltrans by January, funding could be approved in 2001 and construction could begin by 2002.

“This is just one phase,” he said. “I assure you that even if we get all three of these projects funded at the end of this year, the beginning of next year, there’ll still be plenty to do.”