Caltrans Explains 405/101 Interchange Project

A team of Caltrans officials presented proposals Thursday night for a two-phase project that would improve the bottle-necked San Diego/Ventura freeway interchange, but key decisions on how to proceed with the project still need to be made.

Officials used blueprints, aerial photos and other displays to describe the proposed project at a public hearing, but some residents said they weren’t sure how or if it would alleviate gridlock at the interchange. Caltrans said it thoroughly researched several proposals, but needed community input.

“We are not recommending an option at this time, that’s why we are here,” said Ronald J. Kosinski, chief of environmental planning for the state Department of Transportation. “We are looking at all options at this time.”

For a traffic headache that affects thousands of motorists every day, the turn-out for the meeting--about 50 people--was light. Some of those who attended the hearing at the Radisson Valley Center hotel have businesses or homes near the anticipated project.

The first phase of the project, scheduled to begin in fall 2001, is fairly straightforward: a widening of the connector from the northbound San Diego (405) Freeway to the southbound Ventura (101). It should take about two years and will cost about $6.8 million.

But it is the second phase of the project--slated to begin in the summer of 2004--that is more complex.

Four options have been proposed by Caltrans. Each is designed to improve traffic flow for cars using the combined 405/101 onramp system near Greenleaf Street south of Ventura Boulevard.

The options are designed to make it easier for motorists to merge into freeway traffic without crossing traffic lanes. Proposals include adding onramps that go above or below the freeway, shifting the onramp location, and adding connector lanes.

The possibility that his father’s business would be affected brought out Arman Tate. He said his father has run Mike’s Shoe Repair on Sepulveda Boulevard near the interchange for more than 20 years and that if the building were taken away, customers might not follow to a new location.

“He has a very reasonable rent there, so if he has to move, rent will be higher,” Tate said.

Tom Grant, a Sherman Oaks resident, worried that the project would not address one of the biggest causes of traffic snarls--the eastbound Ventura Freeway lanes from the West Valley to downtown Los Angeles.

“I work from 6:30 a.m. to 3 [p.m.] just to avoid the traffic,” Grant said of his job as a budget analyst for the city.

Mee Lee, a consultant to the Sherman Oaks Galleria, also had concerns. One of the proposed freeway projects would leave just 3 feet from the retail/commercial property to the freeway, she said.

“We want the project to proceed, but we want mitigation that we discussed with Caltrans to be in place,” she said. “The draft [environmental] document doesn’t reflect our discussions.”

Lee said her client wants a 36-foot buffer area between the freeway and the complex.

A final environmental impact report will be ready in September, and Caltrans will then make a recommendation on the project, said Edward Andraos, project manager.

Written comments on the project are also being accepted and can be sent to: Ronald J. Kosinski, chief; Office of Environmental Planning; Caltrans--Department of Transportation; 120 S. Spring St., Los Angeles 90012.