City will consider changing traffic barriers on Borchard Road
By Sophia Fischer sfischer@theacorn.com
The traffic barriers along Borchard Road brought out a range of strong opinions by residents and city officials at a recent Thousand Oaks City Council meeting.

On the one side are residents who want something aesthetically pleasing. On the other are city officials who must consider safety and costs as well as aesthetics.

The current barriers on Borchard are concrete K-rail centerline barriers with yellow impact energy cushions at each end of the barrier. Many residents feel they are unattractive and not harmonious with the beauty of the area.

City staff presented a list of alternative barriers, but city council members questioned several of those options: they hadn’t been tested elsewhere and couldn’t be recommended by city staff.

The alternatives included steelbacked timber double guardrails, meandering walls, a crib-type wall and double rail fences. Many residents spoke of their preference for the meandering concrete walls for aesthetic reasons, but council members expressed concern over lack of experience with meandering walls.

Such walls haven’t been used as barriers in the city before, and staff was unable to find another jurisdiction using the walls as barriers.

“Although the meandering wall would look better, there are a lot of unknowns,” said Councilmember Jacqui Irwin.

Besides protecting cars from crossing over medians and into oncoming traffic, barriers help push cars that hit them back into the road and on course. A straight wall could accomplish that more easily than a concrete meandering wall, according to John Helliwell, traffic engineering division manager.

Although a concrete barrier may be safer in preventing crossover of traffic, it’s not as forgiving as steel in deflecting a car, Councilmember Andy Fox said.

After a number of residents complained about the poor look of the current barrier, with one speaker saying it looked worse than a freeway, Fox asked how they would rank safety versus aesthetics.

The council voted unanimously to have city staff investigate the meandering wall option and to report back to the council in six weeks.