CITY TO DELAY FIX AT VENTURA & TOPANGA; WORK PLANNED AT FALLBROOK.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Plans to improve one of Ventura Boulevard's most jammed intersections, Topanga Canyon Boulevard, are too costly and complicated to pursue immediately, a city traffic engineer said Wednesday.

Instead, the city will follow residents' suggestions to work on an easier project, improving traffic flow at the junction of Ventura and Fallbrook Avenue, senior transportation engineer Alan Willis said during a meeting with about 15 community members.

Wednesday's meeting, at the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce, was part of a transportation department plan to improve 19 intersections along Ventura Boulevard. Residents were asked to list their priorities and suggestions for three of them - Topanga, Fallbrook and Shoup Avenue.

Residents accepted the explanation about difficulty improving Topanga, but looked to the future with dread.

``Topanga is the worst. It is so bad it is virtually hopeless,'' said Lila Aurich, a West Hills resident who sits on the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board.

The original plan was to expand the intersection to six lanes in four directions, Willis said. But a large storm drain and state restrictions on the width of lanes, among other obstacles, would make that plan nearly impossible, he said.

``There isn't a whole lot that we see right now that we have the ability to do out there,'' said Willis.

If nothing at all is done there, by 2010 the Topanga intersection will face about 35 percent more rush-hour traffic than its maximum capacity, resulting in lengthy backups which could block other nearby streets and force cars to wait several cycles before getting through the light, according to a city study.

``I think it probably will be logjammed,'' said Hermalee Schmidt, a Woodland Hills resident. ``Not just in the morning, but at night.''

``If you live around here, what you do is you avoid that intersection if you can,'' she added. ``But some people can't.''

Willis said the department will reconsider improvements to Topanga Canyon Boulevard next year, while focusing on the easier improvements elsewhere.

At the same time, the city is planning to study other projects that could take some pressure off the Topanga intersection. One option being studied now is to add an eastbound off-ramp on the 101 Freeway at Canoga Avenue, which would bring traffic closer to Warner Center, rather than forcing cars off at Topanga or Shoup.

Residents asked the department to focus on the Fallbrook intersection if Topanga Boulevard could not be easily fixed.

At Fallbrook, Willis said, the plan is to chop the 20-foot striped median on Ventura Boulevard in half, creating an extra lane in the westbound direction.

Also the city's Bureau of Engineering plans next year to widen the east side of Fallbrook from Avenue San Luis to Ventura Boulevard to add another northbound lane. Another idea still to be researched is widening the west side of Fallbrook, creating a fourth southbound lane.

The department will bring the Fallbrook restriping project to the Plan Review Board in January for approval.