REPAIRS TO SHUT DOWN LANES ON 101 FREEWAY.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

A week of El Nino-related road repairs will close portions of the Ventura Freeway in western Los Angeles County several nights through Saturday.

The road work, which began late Monday, will affect motorists through Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills.

``This is considered an emergency job because of El Nino,'' said Jeanne Bonfilio, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. ``It's an emergency pavement and pothole repair. . . . Because of the high amount of water that's been flowing, some repairs are needed.''

Northbound and southbound lanes will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. today through Friday between Lost Hills and Lindero Canyon roads. From 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday, four of the five southbound lanes will be closed between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Canoga Avenue.

Although traffic along the highway is light at that time of the night, drivers can expect delays of up to 30 minutes along the repair route, she said.

Each lane of traffic can handle about 1,200 cars an hour, said Nick Jones, a traffic monitoring coordinator with Caltrans. In the middle of the night, just one or two lanes should be enough to handle all the traffic in each direction, Jones said.

``That's why we do so much night work,'' he said.

About 227,000 vehicles pass along the Ventura Freeway in both directions between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Canoga Avenue every day, Jones said. About 184,000 pass daily between Lost Hills and Liberty Canyon roads, and about 165,000 pass daily between Lindero Canyon and Reyes Adobe roads, he said.

``It just keeps dropping as it goes to the west there,'' Jones said.