CHOKED FREEWAYS; COMMUTES ARE GETTING WORSE -- AND THERE'S NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT.

Byline: Steve Carney Staff Writer

When it reached over the Sepulveda Pass in the early 1960s, the San Diego Freeway was envisioned as a fast path into the burgeoning suburbs of the San Fernando Valley.

Now, rush-hour traffic averages a school-zone-esque 25 mph. The time spent taking the 405 between the 10 and the 101 is increasing an average of a minute a year.

And the problem will only get worse with the planned expansion of Los Angeles International Airport, which will increase passengers from about 61 million per year to 92 million by 2015, and triple its cargo capacity.

L.A. traffic already is the worst in the nation, according to several recent studies, and the interchanges on the San Diego Freeway with the Santa Monica and Ventura freeways are ground-zero for gridlock.

``The freeways are turning into a complete horror story,'' said Assemblyman Wally Knox, D-Los Angeles, who has spearheaded efforts to improve the 101-405 knot in the wake of a 1997 Daily News series that identified the interchange as the Valley's No. 1 traffic problem and explored possible remedies.

``We haven't been paying enough attention to our transportation problems,'' he said. ``And the time to patiently suffer through it has long past.''

With delays increasing year after year, patience has been more of a necessity than a virtue for L.A. commuters. A trip on the 405 from the 10 interchange to the 101 interchange took an average of 24 minutes in evening rush hour last year, according to new figures compiled by Caltrans at the Daily News' request. That's up from 21 minutes in only three years.

``Congestion can occur on that corridor anywhere on any given day,'' said Rich Margiotta of Cambridge Systematics, a research firm that prepared a study on freeway bottlenecks for the American Highway Users Alliance. The alliance represents motorists, truckers, oil refiners and other highway interests.

The study, released Tuesday, named the junction of the 10 and 405 freeways as the worst bottleneck in the nation.

``Anyone who travels through that intersection knows you plan to add 15 minutes, a half-hour, three-quarters of an hour, simply to cope with the bottleneck itself,'' Knox said. ``You know there will be times you'll be caught off-guard.''

The junction of the 101 and 405 freeways, and the intersection of the 10 and the 5 freeways ranked seventh- and ninth-worst in the nation, highlighting the obvious - that traffic has a choke-hold throughout L.A.

Recession respite over

Delays in the Southland decreased in the early '90s - the recession thinned freeway traffic as drivers cut out unnecessary trips, or simply moved elsewhere for jobs. But the rebounding economy has brought back increased traffic.

Last year, the morning commute from Woodland Hills to downtown took an hour on average - that's 11 minutes longer than in 1995, Caltrans research showed.

With about 330,000 vehicles a day traveling on the Ventura Freeway in the Valley, any mishap can cascade into long delays for everyone.

Just getting downtown from the interchange of the 101 and 405 freeways downtown took eight minutes longer in 1998 than in 1995, increasing to 38 minutes.

And the evening trip from the 10-405 interchange to North Hills increased 13 minutes from 1995, to 49 minutes.

Broader solutions

Policymakers hope all those times will improve when the planned expansion of the 101-405 interchange is completed at the end of 2002.

Two projects totaling $16 million are set to begin in 2001. One would add a lane to the northbound San Diego Freeway at Mulholland Drive, and the other will add a lane to the connector from the northbound 405 to the eastbound 101.

``You have to focus attention on a do-able project to build public support,'' Knox said. ``We need to take the public support for those two initial projects and turn it into public support for broader solutions. And we're going to have to figure out what the comprehensive solutions will be.''

The answers are varied, and traffic experts say several will have to be implemented to effect change. They say any one solution by itself has no hope of fixing the region's gridlock problem.

Proposals include improving and expanding bus service; encouraging flexible work schedules to vary when commuters will be on the road; planning communities so businesses, schools and homes are in close proximity; and using technology to make all forms of transportation more efficient.

And except for High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, or limited projects like at the 101-405, simply laying more asphalt is not an option.

``Given the environmental and community impacts, we're not going to build ourselves out of the problem,'' said Mark Pisano, executive director of the Southern California Association of Governments. ``Our approach is to use technology and information to transform how we provide services.''

Among other things, he advocated the use of Smart Shuttle vans to augment regular bus service - noting the success of privately run airport shuttles, which give people the door-to-door service they crave. Computerized tracking could dispatch the Smart Shuttles more efficiently, he said, and such a system could also link potential car-pool partners in any given area.

Fees for freeways

Drivers who don't want to carpool may still get to use HOV lanes under another proposal advocated by several groups, including the L.A.-based Reason Public Policy Institute. HOV lanes would be converted to High Occupancy/Toll lanes, which would act as regular car-pool lanes, but also allow solo drivers to pay to use them, with fees increasing during rush hours.

Critics have called the plan elitist, while others plain don't like it.

``People don't want to pay for what they think is free - a freeway,'' said Kenneth Green, director of Reason's environmental program.

But when added to other solutions, Margiotta said it's improved technology that will offer the greatest salvation from traffic woes.

``We're on the edge of technology that will really help us make a dent in congestion,'' he said.

For example, advances in communications and computers will let an ever-increasing number of people telecommute, working from home and staying off the road.

Sensors on buses will make them more efficient by changing red lights to green as they approach.

Improved ramp meters and synchronized traffic signals will better regulate cars entering the freeway.

Sensors on freeways can relate when and where traffic is backed up, and remote video cameras can show why.

Though the amount and detail of traffic information is improving, Margiotta said many drivers are still plunging blindly into gridlock. As technology improves, they'll be able to adjust their trips and avoid mishaps and delays.

``We have people out there with no information at all, or imperfect information from TV or radio reports,'' Margiotta said.

Caltrans already has much equipment in place, and offers a World Wide Web page showing traffic speeds - traffic.maxwell.com/la/index.html - but the future will send that information to drivers in their cars, in even greater detail.

``You can check that Web site before you leave, but by the time you leave the driveway that situation could change,'' Margiotta said. ``At least the infrastructure is there. Ten years ago, we had no idea what was out there. Now, with advanced technology, at least we're at a starting point.''

PLAY THE NAME GAME

Horribly gridlocked freeway interchanges deserve appropriately grandiose names: Orange Crush, Big Dig, Big Squeeze.

The 101-405 and 10-405 are among the nation's worst interchanges, so bad they form a ``double whammy'' for Valley motorists. But they don't have names.

Try your hand at dubbing them by writing to Steve Carney, Daily News, P.O. Box 4200, Woodland Hills, CA 91365-4200.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box, map

Photo: (color) no caption (congested freeway)

Box: Play the name game (see text)

Map: Traffic congestion

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist