Flood Area Signs Called Adequate

Dear Traffic Talk:

Heading east on Burbank Boulevard as you cross Sepulveda Boulevard or turning east onto Burbank from Sepulveda always presents a problem when the Sepulveda Basin is closed because of flooding.

The only signs warning that the basin is flooded are at the entrance at the crest of the hill, and they are impossible to see until you are already there.

Whenever the basin is closed, there is a major traffic jam because drivers are making U-turns to get out of the area. Can signs be placed at the bottom of the hill, allowing drivers to decide whether to take an alternate route before entering this logjam?

Tracy Saritzky

Van Nuys

Dear Tracy:

There is sufficient signage warning drivers when there is flooding at the Sepulveda Basin, said Ken Firoozmand, West Valley District engineer at the city Department of Transportation. Electronic signs are activated during flooding at three locations: Burbank and Hayvenhurst Avenue; Victory Boulevard and Woodley Avenue, and at the San Diego Freeway-Burbank offramp.

Dear Traffic Talk:

A left-turn arrow for westbound drivers on Victory Boulevard turning left to head south on White Oak Avenue was installed several months ago, but it hasn’t worked. Doesn’t the city have a checks and balances system?

Jay Robert Jenkins

Encino

Dear Jay:

The left-turn arrow is operational, but it appears only when flooding at the Sepulveda Basin causes the city to close nearby Burbank Boulevard to traffic, said Firoozmand.

When Burbank is closed from Hayvenhurst Avenue to the San Diego Freeway offramp, drivers are diverted to Victory and more drivers must make left turns at White Oak to reach Burbank, Firoozmand said.

Engineers are working to make this signal “protected-permissive” all the time, meaning the left-turn arrow will come on when more than four vehicles line up to turn left, he said.

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