Study proposes new freeway lanes in area
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

Transportation officials have released their long-awaited 101 Freeway Corridor Improvement Study and it recommends adding an additional lane from Thousand Oaks to Woodland Hills, but the study rejects a controversial proposal to double-deck the roadway and delays any improvements from the 134 Freeway to downtown Los Angeles.

The extra lane would give the freeway five lanes in each direction through Conejo Valley/Las Virgenes and into the San Fernando Valley. Two carpool/ bus lanes would be added from the 23 Freeway to Studio City.

The plan has been criticized. Caltrans officials have said that 693 homes and apartment buildings, 11 schools and churches and other structures would be claimed through eminent domain.

That aspect was downplayed by one local spokesman. "It’s not the fact that we’re going to tear anybody’s house out," said Calabasas City Councilman Dennis Washburn, a proponent of the study. "It’s about planning. If we don’t have a study, there will be no plan. If we don’t have a plan, there will be no money," Washburn said.

The committee will meet May 23 when it’s expected to forward its recommendations to the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The MTA will join forces with the Southern California Association of Governments in seeking federal money for the project.

The committee said the $3.4 billion in improvements would be far cheaper than double decking the freeway, a proposal that was considered earlier.

Caltrans, MTA and other transportation officials rolled out the study during a series of community meetings this month, including one on May 8 at the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center.

Marianne Escaron, a Liberty Canyon resident who attended the local meeting, thinks the study doesn’t go far enough.

"It’s not very forward looking," Escaron said. "We’ve got to offer something more."

The long-range improvements

—those added freeway lanes and carpool lanes—might not be completed for another 20 years, officials said. The study recommends focusing on 10- to 15-year "mid-range" fixes that would improve freeway ramps, arterial streets, interchanges and bus routes.

"We all know that it’s going to continue to get bad," said Linda Taira, Caltrans spokeswoman. "A level ‘F’ is what we have throughout the entire 40-mile corridor right now."

Thirty percent of 2.8 million Los Angeles County residents live in the 101 Freeway study area, Taira said.

Caltrans estimates that by the year 2025, up to seven lanes in each direction will be needed to improve the freeway congestion. The traffic between Thousand Oaks and North Hollywood alone is pegged at more than 250,000 vehicles a day and growing. The current rush hour commute from Conejo Valley to downtown Los Angeles is 80 minutes.

Agoura Hills City Councilman Jeff Reinhardt, who helped kick-start the $4.5 million freeway study three years ago, said fixing the 101 would help more than just the downtown commuters; many residents now use the freeway to travel to jobs located in Conejo Valley/Las Virgenes.

"There’s no quick solution to dealing with this influx," Reinhardt said. "And if we do nothing, what’s the price of that?"

The 101 is the only Southern California freeway without major lane, bus or light rail improvements in recent years, Reinhardt said. "We have to be visionary," he added. "We’re building for a generation that is not even walking."