Idea to Double-Deck the 101 Is on the Level

Intrigued by a different kind of traffic pileup, transportation officials are reviving the long-dormant idea of double-decking the 101 Freeway.

The mere notion, being floated by Caltrans at public meetings from Calabasas to Hollywood, stops folks in their tracks.

Some are delighted. But many more shudder at the resurrection of a proposal they believe had been rightfully put to rest.

“After the [Northridge] earthquake, how can you even think of such a thing?” said Margaret Brownley, a romance novelist in Simi Valley.

Said Neil Ignacio, 59, a Burbank salesman: “Who’s going to pay for it?”

Stacking traffic is among a dozen prospective solutions that Caltrans and other agencies are exploring for 101 gridlock.

Adding a second tier to the freeway first came under serious consideration in 1988. At the time, Caltrans estimated that an upper deck from Universal City to Calabasas would cost $910 million and displace more than 1,000 homes and businesses. The proposal encountered stiff community opposition and quickly lost steam. A plan in the early 1990s to build an elevated rail line along the 101 also died.

The latest 101 study was launched about a year ago. In addition to the double-decker suggestion, options on the table include widening the freeway and adding an elevated busway.

“Cool!” said Milly, 23, a Reseda actress who doesn’t use her last name. “They should make the sides strong enough so that if there’s an accident, buses and cars don’t fall over the side.”

As an enthusiast, she seems to be in a small minority. About 90% of the residents who have attended the Caltrans meetings oppose the two-level freeway, said Linda Taira, the department’s branch chief in charge of the $4.5-million study.

Caltrans is reintroducing the double-decking idea because it wants to explore a full range of options, Taira said.

Based on the vociferous community opposition she has heard so far, Taira’s personal belief is that the double-decking idea will unlikely become reality.

But her belief may not reflect that of Caltrans or the other government agencies involved in this project, she added.

“It’s so hard to say at this point” what will happen to the 101, Taira said.

A steering committee will be narrowing down the dozen options in the next few months, Taira said. The committee includes representatives from Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Las Virgenes-Malibu Council of Governments, Southern California Assn. of Governments, Los Angeles city and county, and the Federal Highway Administration.

The study is hailed by sponsors as being much more comprehensive than the 27 that preceded it, dating to 1981. The new one addresses the 40-mile stretch of the 101 from downtown Los Angeles across the San Fernando Valley to the Ventura County line.

The study has not put price tags on any of the options. But because the corridor winds through so many neighborhoods and commercial areas, double-decking might be cheaper than adding ground-level lanes, which would require Caltrans to buy more land, Taira said.

Caltrans will collect more feedback at Hollywood meetings this week. It will narrow the options to two or three in May, and expects to unveil its top choice in December.

As envisioned now, one second-deck option would have an elevated rail line with a carpool lane on each side. The second level would be 83 feet wide and rest on posts 10 feet across.

Another option would place a busway on an upper deck 611/2 feet wide.

“I would be too scared to drive underneath any of those,” said Woodland Hills resident Matthew Halas, 22, who was examining Caltrans drawings of the proposals.

Those living near the corridor also worry that any elevating or widening project would destroy homes, pollute neighborhoods, disrupt businesses and lower property values.

“Sometimes we’re called NIMBYs,” said Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, who leads a coalition of homeowner groups fighting the expansion proposals. “But my response is, if anyone wants a freeway in their backyard, call Caltrans and let them put it in their backyard.”

Others can’t imagine looking at a gargantuan elevated structure.

“Oh my God ... it would be an eyesore!” said Abby Sturgeon, 24, an account executive who lives in Sherman Oaks. “It’s gross.”

Brownley, the Simi Valley resident, can’t shake the image of the double-decked Nimitz Freeway in Oakland and the two-tiered Bay Bridge, both of which collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

“I just don’t think this particular geographic area should have a double-decker,” Brownley said. “It makes me cringe.”

But Bob Lane, a 59-year-old Amway distributor who lives in Northridge, thinks the 101 could be another Harbor Freeway, whose 2.6-mile second tier opened in 1996.

“You can get from downtown to South-Central and Long Beach in no time,” Lane said of the Harbor, whose top level is reserved for buses and carpools. “It’s the greatest thing.”