FREEWAY GAPS VEX MOTORISTS; LACK OF CONNECTORS DRAWS OFFICIALS' IRE.Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. freeways are among the busiest in the nation, but Caltrans built several with missing links, slowing commutes and forcing drivers to detour onto city streets. You can't get from the 170 south to the 101 north without exiting, or from the 101 south to the 170 north. And, of course, you have to exit the 134 to get to the 5 in two directions, and the 134 west to get to the 101 south. The same goes for getting from the 101 north to the 134 east. Those are all examples of the disconnected freeway system motorists and city officials alike blame for world-class congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. in the Valley. ``It's all screwed up. Why do you have to get off the freeway in order to get back on? That's just lame lame (lam) incapable of normal locomotion; deviating from normal gait. lame adj. 1. Disabled so that movement, especially walking, is difficult or impossible. 2. ,'' said North Hollywood resident Zak Mankorias, a car messenger. ``You're wasting a whole lot of valuable time for a whole lot of people.'' Despite the massive increase in San Fernando Valley traffic since the freeways opened in the 1960s, the state Department of Transportation's top Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. director has said the missing links are not a priority. But following a Daily News story outlining problems with missing connectors at the 134-5 freeway interchange and with political pressure beginning to mount, Caltrans officials are softening their position and said they will consider proposals. ``Are we open to looking at alternatives? Sure,'' said Jim Drago, a spokesman for Caltrans. ``You have to look at the issue on a corridor-by-corridor basis. ``To just upgrade an interchange in a congested con·gest·ed adj. Affected with or characterized by congestion. congested ENT adjective Referring to a boggy blood-filled tissue. See Nasal congestion. corridor may not be the best solution to reduce traffic.'' If the Valley's freeways were built today, they would have connectors in all directions. Caltrans builds all new interchanges with all possible moves motorists would want to make. But that was not the practice during the freeway building push in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Many Valley freeway links were left out because planners did not think there would be enough traffic to justify building them. Big traffic increase Yet traffic at the 101-405 interchange is six times higher than when it opened in 1962, and the number of cars and trucks at the 134-5 interchange has more than doubled since it opened in 1967. Legislators say the Valley's needs have changed and so should Caltrans. An engineer who supervised design of interchanges in the 1950s and 1960s agrees. ``I think it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to push,'' said Assemblyman as·sem·bly·man n. A man who is a member of a legislative assembly. assemblyman Noun pl -men a member of a legislative assembly Noun 1. Scott Wildman Scott Wildman was a California State Assemblyman from 1996 until 2000. That year, he lost a State Senate primary to Dr. Jack Scott, an Assemblyman from a neighboring district. Wildman received 46.7% of the vote. , D-Glendale. ``There's a consensus there needs to be some big fixes. It's a problem that's only going to get worse.'' Wildman and Assembly members Sheila Kuehl Sheila James Kuehl (born February 9, 1941 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American politician, and a former child actress. She is currently a Democratic member of the California State Senate, representing the highly urbanized 23rd district in Los Angeles County and parts of southern , Wally wally Noun pl -lies Brit slang a stupid or foolish person [from the name Walter] Noun 1. Knox and Bob Hertzberg are filing a package of legislation aimed at winning the Valley its fair share of freeway improvement dollars. Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, agreed that the timing is right because Gov. Gray Davis has encouraged the Legislature to look at the big infrastructure fixes that are needed. ``I certainly know of all these missing links. I hate them. It's horrible. You have to get off the freeway and use the surface streets,'' Hertzberg said. ``I personally have scratched my head and thought, Who designed these things "These Things" is an EP by She Wants Revenge, released in 2005 by Perfect Kiss, a subsidiary of Geffen Records. Music Video The music video stars Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage. Track Listing 1. "These Things [Radio Edit]" - 3:17 2. ?'' The problem is that the freeways in the Valley were designed to get people downtown. ``When the freeways were built, they thought that Valley commuters would just need to go over the hill to get to work downtown. These missing links are a result of traffic patterns which no longer exist,'' Hertzberg said. Hertzberg is unfazed un·fazed adj. Not fazed or disturbed. by Caltrans' indifference to the problem. ``I don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. what they say,'' he said. ``What the people of Los Angeles and the Valley are saying is that we should build a system that works.'' Kuehl, D-Encino, said she had trouble navigating the 101-134-170 interchange when she was an actress under contract at Universal. ``I had to drive through there all the time, and I never understood why you had to get off the freeway to get back on,'' Kuehl said. ``I got lost so many times trying to figure out how to get from one freeway to another. I'm so amazed a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. at the lack of planning in the original construction.'' Kuehl said the state should look at the missing links issue as part of a study of the 101 corridor. Valley legislators have asked for $500,000 to supplement a federal study of the freeway, which would include its interchange with the 134 and the 170. ``We hope what we'll get is a study that will look at the whole corridor at the same time,'' Kuehl said. Knox, D-Los Angeles, who also is pushing for improvements to the 101-405 interchange, said the same type of effort should be put into solving the missing links issue. The first step is including the missing links in the studies of Valley freeways. ``By the Valley legislators coming together to form discussions about very practical Valley transportation issues, we'll create the forum and the energy to begin to address the gaps issue,'' Knox said. ``If we ignore the gaps, what the heck are we doing? They are very real. They are a definite part of the problem.'' Designers agree Jess Reynolds, a retired Caltrans engineer who supervised design teams on several San Fernando Valley interchange projects in the 1960s, agreed with the legislators that it's time to re-evaluate whether the missing moves are needed. ``The backward moves were considered to be a light move. At that point we were more concerned about cost and money. We were trying to get the maximum for every dollar spent,'' Reynolds said. Part of the problem is that Caltrans' current standards are so high that it's difficult to build new, bigger ramps without disrupting communities. That leaves the Valley dotted with freeway on- and off-ramps built to late '50s standards and motorists left to deal with short, death-defying ramps. Reynolds said he believes some of those standards are too cumbersome and get in the way of improvements. ``I'd like to see Caltrans get a little more realistic, to see whether a bending of standards would make a difference,'' Reynolds said. ``Some of the improvements are overdesigned. Their high standards are too high to go.'' Not much chance In February, an environmental impact report for the Barham-Cahuenga Corridor Improvement Project found building links between the 101 and 134 freeways would require the taking of some 70 homes and several churches and schools. For that reason, it won't happen, leaving gridlock Gridlock A government, business or institution's inability to function at a normal level due either to complex or conflicting procedures within the administrative framework or to impending change in the business. on Barham, Cahuenga and Lankershim boulevards every day. Residents, including Michael Wester, a board member of the Cahuenga Pass The Cahuenga Pass (IPA: [kə'wɛŋgə]) (from the indigenous Tongva language) (el. 745 ft. / 227 m) is a mountain pass through the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Hollywood district of the City Property Owners Association, are upset they now must live with mistaken assumptions made some 40 years ago. ``There was an assumption that everyone was going to be headed downtown,'' Wester said. ``Of course what happens now is people go in all directions at one time.'' But the situation has gotten so bad in his neighborhood that the solution is no longer to just do nothing. ``You have to look at solving the problems on a regional scale,'' he said. ``At some point Caltrans is going to have to bite the bullet.'' NOT MAKING CONNECTIONS Traffic engineers during the 1950s felt the San Fernando Valley would not grow large enough to warrant freeway interchanges with four-way connectors, so there are no links between: The 101 north and the 134 east, meaning traffic coming from downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or through the Cahuenga Pass cannot get to North Hollywood or Burbank's Media District by freeway. Instead commuters take the busy Barham Boulevard exit off the 101, and connect to 134 east at Forest Lawn Forest Lawn is the name of a number of different places:
The 134 west and the 101 south. People trying to get from Burbank to Hollywood have to use Lankershim or Barham Boulevard to link with the 101 south. The 170 south and the 101 north, meaning that drivers trying to go south from Panorama City, Van Nuys, North Hollywood and Valley Village have to use Riverside Drive A number of cities around the world have a Riverside Drive. In the United States:
The 101 south and the 170 north, causing motorists to use Tujunga Avenue to make the switch. The 5 south and 134 west, meaning traffic from Sun Valley and northern Burbank can't use freeways to get to the San Fernando Valley. The 134 east and the 5 north, meaning traffic from the Valley has no freeway route to northern Burbank and Sun Valley. If motorists miss the surface street link at Victory Boulevard Victory Boulevard is a major thoroughfare on Staten Island, measuring approximately 8.0 miles (12.87 km) and stretching from the west shore community of Travis to the upper east shore communities of St. George and Tompkinsville. , they can take the San Fernando Road San Fernando Road is a major street in the city and county of Los Angeles. It starts off in Castaic as The Old Road, passing through Santa Clarita and the Newhall Pass, where upon its intersection with Sierra Highway near the junction of the Golden State (I-5) and the exit in Glendale and loop back up on surface streets to the 5 north. The 118 east and the 5 north or the 5 south and the 118 west. CAPTION(S): box, map PHOTO Box: NOT MAKING CONNECTIONS (see text) Map: The missing links Besides the gap at the 134-5 interchange there are several examples of missing links that motorists face throughout the San Fernando Valley Dionisio Munoz/Daily News |
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