101 DOUBLE-DECKER? STRUGGLE GOES ON FOR RIGHT PLAN TO EASE VALLEY GRIDLOCK.

Byline: Erik N. Nelson Staff Writer

A diagram of two decks, extra lanes and express lanes on the Ventura Freeway is as horrifying to Gerald Silver and fellow members of Homeowners of Encino as it would be delightful to rush-hour commuters.

Whether those drawings from a 101 Corridor Study depict a highway from Hades or the express lanes to heaven is a matter of perspective.

Although plans are under way to help redesign and unsnarl the 101-405 freeway interchange in Sherman Oaks, transportation officials say they see little chance of extensive widening or double decking along the 101 any time soon.

``Widening the freeway is highly unlikely. Double decking is highly unlikely. It all comes down to the costs, the environmental impacts, the social impacts,'' said Linda Taira, project manager of the three-year 101 Corridor Study, which is aimed at coming up with ways of easing congestion on the Ventura and Hollywood freeway portions of the 101.

To Silver, president of the Encino group, a round-table discussion on the freeway scheduled for Tuesday represents an effort by the California Department of Transportation to ``quietly build a consensus'' for a gargantuan construction project.

The accusation prompts chuckles from transportation planners, who insist that while such things must be part of the discussion, there is nowhere near enough money or public support for any such project.

``If somebody offers you even odds on whether the 101 is going to be double decked, I'd be surprised,'' said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, who has spent many years trying to prod state officials to take action on congestion relief on the Ventura Freeway.

``We've got to look mile-by-mile as to what would be the effect of widening the freeway here or there,'' Sherman added. ``Then there are individual tie-ups. The one that I hear about most often is Kanan Road ... freeway off-ramp situation.. during rush hour you can spend a lot of time getting on and off the freeway at Kanan Road. Individual bottlenecks are easier to fix and have more community support than something like double decking the freeway.''

Express lanes, for example, would require widening the freeway to twice its width and would require rights-of-way that are now taken up by homes and businesses for most of the freeway's length.

Double decking, which would involve adding four elevated car-pool/bus lanes similar to the Harbor Freeway through South Central Los Angeles, would face massive community opposition from people like Gerald Silver along the route. It would also be prohibitively costly, planners said.

As anyone who is forced to use the freeway knows, however, traffic is bad and getting worse.

In the year ending September 2001, the freeway on both sides of the notorious I-405 interchange was carrying an average of about 300,000 trips a day, earning it an ``F'' grade for stop- and-go traffic flow. ``A'' would be perfect, and highway planners speak longingly of bringing area freeways up to level ``D,'' which is loosely defined as slow, but moving.

Those numbers show a 36 percent rise from 1980, when there were only about 220,000 average daily trips. The future promises to bring even more traffic, much of it coming from the estimated 45,000 trips the 3,050-home Ahmanson Ranch development in Ventura County will add to the 101.

In the past, it was thought that simply building more freeways would solve congestion woes in Southern California, making for now-legendary maps showing a lattice-work of freeways crossing the Valley and canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains.

What hardened 101 commuter wouldn't smile at the thought of exiting onto the Topanga Freeway, taking it to the Pacific Coast Freeway and arriving at Los Angeles International Airport only 30 minutes after leaving Calabasas?

Or for those seeking an alternative to the 101 to Hollywood, how about a detour via the Reseda Freeway to the Mulholland Parkway to the Laurel Canyon Freeway?

But those highway plans were killed in the 1960s and 1970s when elected officials realized that creating new swaths of destruction through inhabited and in some cases picturesque scenery would be prohibitively expensive and wouldn't win them any votes.

These days, the battle against freeway congestion is fought in small skirmishes: A speedier exit ramp here, a reconfigured lane pattern there. The biggest change to come down the pike in recent years has been the single car-pool lane on the southbound I-405 through the Sepulveda Pass.

The improvement was lauded by commuters, traffic reporters and elected officials, who were quick to jump on the car-pool bandwagon. Even Gov. Gray Davis made a point of hosting a press conference with the new lane as a backdrop.

The realities of small-scale freeway improvements didn't stop Silver from circulating fliers urging freeway neighbors to attend Tuesday's 6 p.m. meeting in the Cafeterial Conference Room of Valley College in Valley Glen.

On them, he laid out the threats in bold, block letters:

``Caltrans and the MTA are considering - DOUBLE DECKING THE VENTURA FREEWAY/WIDENING (the) FREEWAY, ADDING EXPRESS LANES''

The flier urges residents to call, fax or e-mail Caltrans, City Council members Cindy Miscikowski, Jack Weiss and Dennis Zine, Mayor James Hahn, Deputy Mayor Felipe Fuentes, and Rep. Brad Sherman.

``Before Caltrans considers building another freeway on top of the Ventura Freeway, they should consider other options, including the Reseda- to-the-Sea Freeway, Whitnall Freeway (roughly between and parallel to the 101 and 118 freeways, then curving south, crossing the Santa Monica Mountains somewhere near Griffith Park and connecting with the I-405 in the South Bay area), etc.

``It is not fair to place the entire transportation burden on residents near the Ventura Freeway!'' reads the flier, which comes with an appeal for donations to Homeowners of Encino.

Silver insists he is not being alarmist and not motivated solely by the fact that his home is only a few blocks from the freeway.

``What they're trying to do is sow the seeds of this project,'' Silver said. ``Before they add to the 101, creating mass destruction along the south valley corridor, they need to look at all the options and share the pain equally.''

The flier has already alarmed community leaders in neighboring Tarzana, who remember their battle decades ago to defeat the Reseda Freeway, and resent Silver's suggestion that it be put back on the table.

``How dare they! How dare they! That is dedicated park. That is off the map. That, you can quote me on,'' said Helen Itria Norman, president of the Tarzana Property Owners Association. ``We certainly don't want a freeway cutting through land that is being preserved for future generations to appreciate and enjoy and protect the wildlife.''

In the end, such squabbles are more or less moot.

Much of the Reseda Freeway's mythical right-of-way is, in fact, parkland and would be defended on both sides of the mountains by people with plenty of influence and financial backing.

When the three-year 101 study is completed, it will come with engineering documents that will help speed funding for improvements to transit such as more buses for the planned East-West Busway connecting the North Hollywood Metro Red Line subway station with Warner Center, new Park and Ride lots feeding Metro Rapid buses that run along Ventura Boulevard and, perhaps, more lanes on the I-405 to lure more traffic off the 101.

``The study will look at everything from 'do nothing' to 'do the biggest thing you could imagine doing,''' said Jeff Morales, director of the state Department of Transportation. ``The reality is probably going to be in the middle; it's not likely to be either extreme.''