GALLERIA, CALTRANS AGREE ON 101-405 FIX.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

State transportation and Sherman Oaks Galleria officials said Wednesday they reached a compromise on the 101-405 interchange project that will allow it to move forward on time with an adequate noise buffer for the mall.

A week ago, Galleria representatives said plans to improve the critical San Fernando Valley freeway interchange with a widened 101-405 connector would bring the road too close to the mall, jeopardizing its lease to house several hundred employees of Warner Bros.' animation department.

Caltrans district division chief Doug Failing said the project has been re-engineered, keeping central design features and fine-tuning others to achieve a setback of 36 feet from the new office windows.

Combined with quieter, grooved pavement throughout the connector and barriers near the Galleria, the buffer meets the mall's noise-reduction requirements.

``We've been busy,'' Failing said. ``We've come up with a tighter and tighter design.''

The conflict over adding a lane to the connector from the northbound 405 to the eastbound 101 threatened to push the project behind others for funding and possibly delay improvements by as much as three years.

No cost increase

Nothing in the new plans alters freeway features important to commuters nor increases costs based on preliminary estimates, Failing said. He added that Caltrans' policy is to work with nearby property owners to avoid litigation as long as transportation considerations aren't compromised.

``The things that are really critical for transportation - the lane width and lane standards - will be met 100 percent,'' Failing said. ``We're not giving up things that impede traffic in any way or form.''

David Grannis, a traffic consultant for the mall's owners, Galleria Park Partners LLC, said the adjustments addressed the Galleria's concerns, which came to light a week ago before the State Transportation Commission when the then-working design put the roadway at 22 feet from the mall at its closest, or ``pinch'' point.

Grannis said the Galleria has been designing and building new space for hundreds of Warner Bros. employees based on a 40-foot separation from the roadway. He said the noise-reduction measures, combined with the 36-foot setback, now meet that standard.

``This is a big deal to have the animation people in the heart of the Valley and to fix the freeway,'' Grannis said.

Galleria officials did not return calls for comment.

The Warner Bros.' lease calls for several hundred television and feature film animators to move into the new office space next summer, according to Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo. About 400 of those jobs currently are outside the city, he added.

``This is very significant, because we're again attracting a world-class industry company, Warner Bros., to the city of Los Angeles,'' Delgadillo said. ``The entertainment industry had decided to move outside, and now it's moving back in.

``The Valley is a prime location for the industry to grow.''

Warner Bros. spokeswoman Barbara Brogliatti said the company needs the offices on schedule.

``People are practically sitting on each other now,'' she said. ``It would be a great discomfort if we didn't move.''

History of problems

A Daily News series in 1997 identified the 101-405 exchange as the primary obstacle to smooth driving across the Valley. Since then, local lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis have worked to find remedies.

City officials, while not formally part of the agreement, said they were satisfied the steps being taken were in the right direction. Ultimately, the state and the Galleria will sign a memorandum of understanding to cement the term, Failing said.

``I'm pleased they're working things out and moving forward on the integrity of the project,'' said City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes the interchange.

She said the connector's configuration will get a fuller airing as it approaches public hearings on environmental issues sometime next year.

Failing, the Caltrans division chief for Los Angeles and Ventura, described the central features of the new plan, saying no lanes have been eliminated and no new ramp closures are planned to make space for the buffer strip next to the Galleria.

The state has retained from previous plans a Galleria traffic consultants' proposal that one ramp - from Sepulveda Boulevard onto the freeway as it hooks into the 101 and 405 northbound - run beneath, rather than over, the connector, Failing said.

``That way we can avoid the columns and footings that put it so close to the Galleria,'' he said.

The other engineering adjustments involve the pitch of ramps, which affect how much total space is required, he said.

``The whole package does a very good job of improving the access through the area,'' Failing said. ``At the same time, I think we have an agreement in concept with the Galleria such that they will have a viable business.''

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