Solutions Sought for Better Traffic Flow

Officials from cities along the Highway 101 corridor--extending from Thousand Oaks to Los Angeles--met with state transportation officials Wednesday to talk about how to improve traffic flow.

The U. S. Highway 101 Transportation Summit, which was held in Calabasas, was intended to help come up with solutions to accommodate current traffic demands and anticipated traffic problems for the next 20 years.

For two hours, city leaders and transportation officials discussed why and how the freeway needs to be improved. Suggestions ranged from adding carpool lanes to increasing public transportation alternatives.

Carpool lanes were the most favored suggestion. However, a state law prohibits additional carpool lanes on the portion of the freeway that runs from Thousand Oaks through Canoga Park.

By the end of the meeting, the consensus was that more study on the corridor is needed, particularly on traffic flow along surface streets around the freeway.

But not everybody liked that idea.

“The people in our communities hate studies,” Westlake Village Councilman Mark Rutherford said. “What we’ve got to do is put six to eight lanes in.”

Just adding more lanes isn’t the best solution, said Ray Mitwasi, deputy director of the state Department of Transportation. He favors an overall study of the freeway and surface streets.