Residents blame city officials for traffic woes on Lynn Road
By Nancy Needham   nancy@theacorn.com

Pointing fingers at city officials during a recent City Council meeting, residents near Lynn Road blamed them for allowing a street fraught with traffic dangers.

Somebody had to approve building Lynn Road to go through like it does, residents said. Somebody had to approve the speed limits. Somebody had to make it a truck route.

The result of these decisions has made what Richard Kunz and other speakers described as a highway situation where vehicles race through the city with little regard for cars entering from side streets or pedestrians trying to cross. There's no bike lane. No standard 6-inch curbs, dots or rumble strips let motorists know they're leaving the roadway.

"Lynn Road is a freeway. That's what the city of Thousand Oaks has let Lynn Road become," said Wes MacDonald, a 31-year resident.

Diesel fumes from smokestacks blow black clouds of pollution into the backyards of nearby homes as large trucks ar forced to stop and then start up an incline from Camino Manzanas and Janss Road on Lynn Road, Councilmember Dennis Gillette said. Residents complained of the soot left behind and said they're concerned about the health of their children.

They also told stories of accidents along the roadway. Elaine McKearn said a car "smacked right into the back" of her at the Lynn Road and Lotus Avenue intersection.

Public Works Director Mark Watkins presented a staff report that used information gathered from the Lynn Road Traffic Issues Ad Hoc Committee created in 2005.

Much of his time was spent on explaining why the city couldn't simply lower the speed limit as residents requested.

"City speed limits are set in accordance to state law. There is very little discretion or flexibility provided for in the law," Watkins said.

A state law prevents cities from artificially lowering speed limits to create speed traps, he said. Because of what he referred to as "the 85th percentile rule," speed limits are set by how fast 85 percent of the drivers go on a road, not by what local residents or officials consider as safe.

"This law tends to promote 'creep.' Over time, the speeds tend to increase," Watkins said.

According to City Manager Scott Mitnick, former Assemblyman Tony Strickland championed legislation to lower the speed limits in Thousand Oaks, but it was killed while going through committee. Even though City Council members and city staff had spent a lot of time and effort in Sacramento working on the legislation, they couldn't save it.

"Our state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) stepped in and strongly and adamantly opposed that legislation. He said it was a speed trap. He killed it. He killed it. So, we are struggling here at the local level. . . . I cannot overemphasize what McClintock did to this community," Mitnick said.

Still, residents asked the city to cure the problem by lowering the speed limit. But "treating the symptoms" seemed to be the only available option.

"Six inches of curb is not going to make any difference. Reduce the speed limits, increase the safety along Lynn Road. It's a very, very simple deal," said Richard Kunz, a resident of T.O.

Kunz felt a residential street should have a 25-mph speed limit instead of the near highway speeds seen on Lynn Road, where there's no room for error.

Lynn Road has posted speeds up to 50 mph.

The City Council voted unanimously last week to make improvements intended to make the street safer. Electronic road signs will be installed to show drivers their speed. More traffic officers will patrol Lynn and turnouts will be created so deputies can easily enforce the existing traffic laws. Currently, the street has no median or shoulder for officers to conduct such enforcement.

Traffic signal timing will be changed, and pedestrian countdown timers will be installed at some intersections. Dots or a rumble strip may also be added to the road. There's no shoulder and little to alert a driver whose tires move off the roadway. Traffic lights could also be added to some Lynn Road intersections.

After the improvements are made, an engineering traffic survey will be performed to reevaluate how fast 85 percent of the drivers are going. If drivers slow down, new speed limits could possibly be set.

Removing Lynn Road's truck route status would take a change in the municipal code and might not make much difference since garbage, delivery and moving trucks would still have access. Only trucks using the street as a drivethrough would be eliminated, Watkins said.

Traffic on Lynn Road is expected to grow due to construction on the 23 Freeway, Watkins said.