Post by bennyp81 on Jun 23, 2005 9:52:14 GMT -8
Matt Kelly
User ID: 0547294 Nov 21st [2002] 2:09 PM
I know the subject is already discussed somewhere on this website but I wanted to add this newest public hearing alert I received from Cameron Flanagan, from my local neighborhood council. This might be an opportunity to involve and educate more people to the benefits of light rail over new freeway expansion (and monorails):
**********
Thursday, 21 November 2002
Hello friends! This is a special alert regarding the Freeway Expansion Public Hearing at 7:30pm today, Thu. November 21st (details below). The freeway expansion could potentially have a very negative impact on the Hollywood area. Rather than exploring alternatives (such as adding a monorail system), officials are instead contemplating the "double-decking" of the 101 freeway.
FREEWAY EXPANSION PUBLIC HEARING
Thursday, November 21, 7:30 PM
Location: Center for Junior Achievement, 6250 Forest Lawn Drive
This meeting is regarding the proposed widening and expansion of the 101-Hollywood Freeway, hosted by the Hollywood Knolls Community Club (HKCC) and the Cahuenga Pass Property Owners Association (CPPOA).
As currently proposed, significant portions of Cahuenga Blvds. East and West in the Cahuenga Pass will be eliminated causing several thousand vehicles an hour to be! diverted through alternate routes such as Outpost Drive, Beachwood Canyon and Laurel Canyon. The impact of additional traffic problems in these communities will be incalculable.
THIS PROPOSED EXPANSION MAY SIGNIFICANTLY DEVALUE ALL PROPERTY THAT RELATES TO THESE STREETS! Come to this meeting to hear more of the proposed details that are currently known. As you may have already heard no official public hearing has yet been scheduled.
Also invited are Councilman Tom La Bonge, Sheila Kuehl, Paul Kouretz, Cal Trans, the MTA, LADOT and others.
Since this expansion proposal is scheduled for route designation this December, our only hope now for mitigation is to impress upon our political leaders that they must find another more realistic alternative.
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Matt Kelly
User ID: 0547294 Nov 22nd 4:10 AM
Well, I ended up attending this "public meeting." I think the Valley residents still need to really focus on what they want to do about congestion. Some things were encouraging, especially a large vocal group in the audience wanting more valley-side subways. Other ideas were not so encouraging-- like monorails and underground big dig-style freeways.
Encino Homeowner Association president Gerald Silver was allowed to grandstand and attack a very nervous, ill prepared Caltrans project manager. He seemed to be opened to new public transit projects (just not over the 101) and saying that new freeway lanes would be quickly congested by "latent demand" but went on to say we need to revive the old 1960s Caltrans proposal to build freeways in a grid system every 2 miles. Huh? The sponsoring groups, the Hollywood Knolls Community Club and the Cahuenga Pass Property Owners Association, were not much help either, with the "mediators" seemingly egging on a hostile crowd.
Still, I think community outreach is possible, although at this stage, it has to be handled with kid gloves.
Roberto
User ID: 8374593 Nov 22nd 5:48 AM
Oh no, I just read an article about that plan and commented about it in another folder. I can't believe people still want 10-lane freeways every 2-3 miles all over the County !
PForce your all-conrete and asphalt Los Angeles motor home nightmare may still come true yet !
EC
User ID: 0234554 Nov 22nd 4:07 PM
The valley..what do you expect..sigh...
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 Apr 18th [2003] 2:57 AM
From Daily News
April 17, 2003
******
101 corridor meetings delayed
By Lisa Mascaro
Staff Writer
Community meetings on the Ventura Freeway corridor study scheduled for next week have been postponed until May because a committee has not yet decided which improvement plan it will recommend.
The schedule change comes as work winds down on the study, designed to get traffic moving on the Ventura Freeway. The expansion plan has drawn the ire of residents who are concerned that the project could take their homes and businesses.
The technical committee has rescheduled the meetings for May 5, 8 and 12, and expects to make a recommendation on its preferred options later that month to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board in the hope of getting the projects added to the regional transportation plan, officials said.
Funding for the landmark $4.5 million, three-year study is going to be cut short a year earlier than planned -- eliminating the chance to draw up more specific project documents -- as funding for transportation projects is slashed because of California's budget crisis.
"That doesn't mean the whole study's jettisoned," said Agoura Hills councilwoman Louise Rishoff, also an aide to Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D- Woodland Hills, and a member of the study group. "This is going to take awhile. You just have to put one foot in front of the other."
She said getting the study to the MTA for approval is an important step. The study is only a planning document, with no funds allocated to build any of the suggested improvements.
"This will finally get it in line (for funding)," Rishoff said.
The study looks for ways to improve freeway traffic between Thousand Oaks and downtown Los Angeles. Five strategies are being studied -- including adding lanes, building a train line and double-decking the freeway in places.
Those involved have said different strategies for different sections of the freeway are likely to emerge.
This week, the Las Virgenes Council of Governments, made up of the five small cities along the Los Angeles-Ventura county line, recommended one or two car-pool lanes, as well as one regular lane, along the western-most segment of the Ventura Freeway.
San Fernando Valley residents, as well as those in Hollywood, have strongly opposed any efforts to double-deck the freeway, despite the potential improvements in traffic flow.
PForce
User ID: 0596854 Apr 18th 2:39 PM
Thank the good transit spirits that there is significant resistance to insane freeway expansion projects on the 101 and the 710. God knows, we need the jobs--but not at the expense of the degradation of life in residential neighborhoods, additional air pollution, and an even uglier and uninviting cityscape.
Good reporting Matt and Roberto.
(Roberto--I told you so!)
Art G
User ID: 9454293 Apr 19th 1:07 AM
Its pretty amazing how quick and easy it is to fund a multibillion dollar project when it involves freeways, yet it's like pulling teeth to get any $$ for badly needed rail lines.
Cliffj
User ID: 0812164 Apr 19th 3:39 AM
Ain't it the TRUTH!!!
Bart Reed
User ID: 1606604 Apr 19th 4:44 PM
US 101 Freeway Corridor Improvement Study
Community Workshops
RESCHEDULED
· 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Open House
· 6:30 - 7:00 p.m. Presentation by Study Team
· 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Q&A
NEW DATES:
Monday, May 5, 2003
First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood
1760 N. Gower Street, Hollywood
(enter parking from Carlos Avenue)
Thursday, May 8, 2003
Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center
27040 Malibu Hills Road, Calabasas
Monday, May 12, 2003
Valley Beth Shalom Temple
Glaser Hall
15739 Ventura Boulevard, Encino
· Learn what is being recommended as the Preferred Strategy
· Speak one-on-one with project experts
· Get answers to your questions
· Provide feedback to be used in finalizing the Preferred Strategy
For more information, please visit us at: www.communityspeakup.com/101
or call (866) Move-101
Þ--Þ--Þ
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 Apr 30th 5:39 AM
From Daily News
April 30, 2003
101 fix scaled back
Double-decking plan out; car-pool lanes in
By Lisa Mascaro
Staff Writer
Rejecting a controversial plan to double-deck the Ventura Freeway through the San Fernando Valley, transportation officials on Tuesday recommended widening the freeway between Thousand Oaks and Burbank and adding regular traffic and car-pool lanes.
They also said widening the freeway to accommodate two car-pool lanes in each direction would allow flexibility for express buses or even a rail line in the future, and give those who carpool direct connections to the 405 and 134 freeways.
But they decided against widening beyond the 101-134 freeway interchange to downtown as originally proposed, a change that helped to reduce the cost by half -- to about $3.4 billion.
"That freeway's supposed to move, not be a parking lot," said state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, who was instrumental in launching the $4.5 million freeway study in 2001. She said she would continue ushering it through to "make sure this goes from recommendation to reality."
Kuehl called the recommendations a "great solution for people trying to commute in the Valley."
The recommendation by a technical committee of transit officials said at-grade car-pool lanes would be cheaper than a hotly contested plan to double-deck the Ventura Freeway through the Valley.
The proposal also includes a new regular lane between Thousand Oaks and Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Under initial estimates, improvements would shave 22 minutes off a typical commute. Updated estimates were not available Tuesday.
But with work on such a major project not expected for 20 years, the committee agreed to focus now on shorter-term improvements to ramps, lanes, streets and bus routes -- options that would total $500 million.
"There is tremendous support overall for us to do something," said Rose Casey, deputy district director for the state Department of Transportation. "We need to focus on the short-term solutions we can implement and deliver to the public."
The study's technical advisory committee -- made up of representatives from Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and city public works personnel -- was months overdue in making its recommendation.
The steering committee that oversaw the study will meet May 23 before sending the recommendations to the MTA, which sets priorities for funding. Another round of community meetings on the plan will begin next week.
The MTA initially supported just one car-pool lane in each direction as the most cost-effective alternative, but supported Tuesday's recommendation -- with the stipulation that it would review the revised costs and property estimates, said Carol Inge of the MTA.
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation abstained from the vote, wanting more-detailed information on how freeway changes would impact city streets.
However, Homeowners of Encino President Gerald Silver, who has long fought freeway expansion plans -- along with residents from Studio City and the Cahuenga Pass -- noted that opposition hasn't changed much from five years ago when 10,000 residents signed a petition against car-pool lanes on the Ventura Freeway.
"This would be an absolute disaster for these residents. It's going to mean a huge number of homes and businesses will be destroyed in the process," he said. "They're looking to put the whole load on the 101. All this is going to do is appease the Agoura Hills and Calabasas people at a high cost to the Valley residents."
Residents have complained since the study got under way in 2001 that the work is being done without adequate public input.
City Councilman Tom LaBonge will introduce a resolution at today's council meeting to reconstitute the study's steering committee to include council representatives from districts along the corridor.
The three-year, $4.5 million 101 Freeway Corridor Improvement Study was launched in 2001 after Kuehl and the small West Valley cities of the Las Virgenes Council of Governments secured funding to look into the freeway, which is among the most congested in the nation.
The ambitious study is set to close down in June, one year earlier than planned because state funding is jeopardized by the state budget crisis.
The Automobile Club of Southern California supports the recommendation.
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 May 2nd 4:58 AM
From Daily News
May 2, 2003
*******
Hope on the 101
If done properly, Ventura Freeway expansion could benefit everyone
The easy part is now behind us; extreme challenges now lie ahead.
No, we're not talking about rebuilding Iraq, but expanding the Ventura Freeway, a task that, for local government, should be about as challenging as winning the peace promises to be for Washington.
The easy part -- devising a strategy -- is now behind us, with a collection of local officials deciding against double-decking the freeway in favor of widening it.
Now comes the hard part: Selling the plan to the public. Neighborhood groups have already begun mobilizing against the project, even though work isn't expected for 20 years.
Local communities, which have seen their interests trampled many times before, are rightly skittish about a plan that would require the destruction of homes and businesses, while bringing yet more traffic, noise and pollution through their communities.
It's going to be a tough sell -- and one heck of a fight.
To win over a skeptical public, local leaders will have to do a lot of convincing, but they should be able to pull it off. After all, the facts are in their favor.
No one denies that the 101 Freeway is overly congested, or that its infamous traffic jams come at a tremendous cost in terms of wasted time, pollution and quality of life. With the local population swelling, the need for major improvements couldn't be more clear.
And the plan that officials have decided on is one that has much to offer the local community, especially the San Fernando Valley and the cities to the east and west of it.
Under the $3.4 billion proposal, the state would add one regular traffic lane in each direction where the 101 now has only four lanes. It would also add two car-pool lanes in each direction between Thousand Oaks and the 134 Freeway.
More promising still, widening the freeway also opens up the possibility of other improvements in the future, such as replacing one or more of the new lanes with a dedicated express busway or a light-rail line.
The result would be dramatic improvements along the 101's interchanges with the 405 and 134 freeways, as well as a much shorter ride for commuters traveling within and through the Valley. The improved access would, in turn, make the area more attractive for business and new jobs, and more livable for the vast majority of nearby residents, who would see their property values rise.
For all the benefits expansion has to offer, local communities should be willing to give the plan a serious look and keep an open mind.
But that's not to say that they should roll over and accept whatever the state throws their way. Before even preliminary work begins on the project, a long and involved community dialogue is in order, one that brings to light neighbors' concerns and leads to the creation of reasonable mitigations.
With sufficient forethought and planning, the 101 Freeway expansion could be a tremendous asset for all of those living and working in and around the San Fernando Valley.
This is not the time for the various interests to dig in their heels, but rather it is a time to come together and find a reasonable solution.
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 May 6th 5:02 AM
From Daily News
May 6, 2003
Gridlock
Re "101 fix scaled back" (April 30):
Why are we spending money on more studies? As long as freeways are expanded there will be continued gridlock. Build a double deck for buses and trucks through busy corridors and provide parking structures along freeway routes and let the independent rush-hour driver finally decide that public transportation may be a better way to go.
I realize that isn't the answer to all one-person-per-car drivers, but hey, let's stop catering.
Marilyn Sims
Reseda
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 May 6th 5:10 AM
From Los Angeles Times
May 6, 2003
Hollywood-Area Residents Oppose $3.4-Billion Ventura Freeway Plan
About 80 people attend the first of three public meetings being held on the proposal to add four carpool lanes to ease congestion.
By Caitlin Liu, Times Staff Writer
Dozens of residents of Hollywood and the Cahuenga Pass told transportation planners Monday night that they oppose plans to expand the Ventura Freeway, even if the proposal doesn't threaten to destroy homes in their neighborhoods.
Several residents, speaking at a meeting organized by the state Department of Transportation, said they viewed the $3.4-billion proposal as an unfair subsidy for people who live in the west San Fernando Valley and Ventura County and commute to downtown Los Angeles.
"I'm very against the catering to people who live so far away from where they work," said Joyce Dyrector, a television and film writer who lives in the Cahuenga Pass. "They chose to live out there and work downtown, which I think is wrong."
Transportation planners, she said, "are willing to destroy the lives of people who live here."
The community meeting, which drew about 80 people, was the first of three intended to allow residents to voice opinions about recommendations made last week by a group of transportation planners to widen the 101 Freeway by two carpool lanes in both directions for 31 miles between Thousand Oaks and Studio City. The proposal also calls for adding a regular lane to those freeway segments that have only four.
It would affect 550 acres of freeway-adjacent land and require the demolition of homes between Studio City and Ventura County, especially in the mid-Valley area. It would not require the taking of homes from Studio City to downtown.
The recommendations also include widening ramps, adding transit service and improving nearby streets throughout the 40-mile corridor from downtown Los Angeles to Thousand Oaks.
The planners, who represent Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the La Virgenes-Malibu Council of Governments and the Automobile Club of Southern California, do not recommend widening the Hollywood Freeway portion of the 101 at this time. Before that happens, they said, the congestion caused by a tangled four-tier interchange in downtown Los Angeles needed to be addressed.
The recommendations still need approval from a steering committee of transportation agencies and elected officials, which will meet later this month to decide whether to forward the proposal to the MTA board for approval.
Monday's meeting also attracted some local officials, including City Councilman Tom LaBonge.
"I love freeways," LaBonge said. "They're an important part of the transportation equation." But, he added, "We have to be sensitive to neighborhoods."
Some residents expressed support for the widening.
Roger Davis, a concert tour booker who lives in Valley Village, said he's tired of the rush-hour congestion on the 101.
"We've got to have a solution to this. The people have been saying, 'Not in my back yard, not in my back yard,' for 30 years."
Bart Reed
User ID: 1606604 May 6th 7:51 AM
Los Angeles Times: Thursday, May 1, 2003
4 More Carpool Lanes Urged to Ease 101 Crunch
The $3.36-billion effort would include a 31-mile stretch from Studio City to Thousand Oaks.
By Caitlin Liu
Times Staff Writer
When transportation planners this week recommended
widening portions of the 101 Freeway, they
realized it could mean destroying some homes and businesses along the way, but they felt it was more important to tackle the corridor's worsening traffic problems.
The planners rejected four other options for improving the roadway as too expensive or inadequate in relieving congestion.
After months of poring over different scenarios, the group of about 15 planners—including representatives from local and state transport-
ation agencies—on Tuesday agreed to propose the addition of two carpool lanes in each direction on a 31-mile stretch of the Ventura Freeway from Thousand Oaks to Studio City.
The $3.36-billion package also proposes a fifth regular lane for sections of the Ventura Freeway that now have only four lanes.
The recommendation, which includes short- and medium-term projects to improve ramps, connectors,
nearby streets and transit, would affect 550 acres
of freeway-adjacent property, but it is expected to save motorists a cumulative 78,000 hours a day.
"This one provides the most benefit with less proportional increase to project cost," said Rose Casey, a deputy district director for Los Angeles and Ventura counties for the California Department
of Transportation, the agency in charge of a study
on improving the 40-mile freeway corridor from downtown Los Angeles to Thousand Oaks.
The recommendation by the planners, who were part of a technical advisory committee, will be considered May 23 by a steering committee of transportation and elected officials.
The latter group will then decide what to propose to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board for action, possibly by this summer.
One option that planners rejected outright was a $6.3-billion proposal to add a second tier to parts of the 101. That idea, which had ignited the most community opposition, would have affected
585 acres along the corridor, while saving motor-ists a cumulative 97,000 hours a day.
The plan also called for adding a rail line down the middle of the freeway, but the planners decid-
ed that option made little sense now because a new rapid busway running parallel and north of the freeway is expected to open in a few years.
Another option was to add only one carpool lane in each direction, saving motorists an estimated 58,000 hours a day.
MTA planners originally preferred that proposal because they believed it would be less intrusive for surrounding communities, said Carol Inge, a deputy executive officer for the agency. But they reconsidered when they received more data.
With a price tag of $2.95 billion and an estimated
500 acres affected, that project would be almost as costly as the two-carpool-lane strategy preferred by Caltrans and others, Inge said.
A third option was a $512-million proposal that would involve widening ramps, beefing up bus service and improving streets along the corridor. That proposal would affect 33 freeway-adjacent acres and save drivers 17,000 hours a day.
While those ideas are also part of the more-ambit-ious freeway-widening proposal,transportation officials felt that approach alone was not enough.
The final option on the table, which was to do nothing, was not seriously considered,partici-pants said.
"The congestion of the freeway now is just not tolerable," Inge said. Without taking a formal vote, most of the planners reached a consensus on the proposal after each agency shared its views.
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation, however, abstained from taking a stance.
The department will take a position once it receives more information on how the proposal would affect congestion on city streets, said James Okazaki, assistant general manager of the
department. "As far as the [department] is concerned, we want to see improvements to the freeway," he said.
Also Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council approved a resolution by Councilman Tom LaBonge asking the technical advisory committee for a more detailed analysis of the potential effect on
neighborhoods.
LaBonge's original resolution, before he offered an amended version, sought to "minimize the displacement of people and businesses" and "oppose any proposal to widen the 101 Freeway" beyond property that is already owned by Caltrans.
He withdrew his original proposal because "it caused some alarm by others," including the city Transportation Department, LaBonge said. "Some council members have a different opinion [on freeway-widening] from what I do."
Þ-Þ-®-Þ-Þ
User ID: 0547294 Nov 21st [2002] 2:09 PM
I know the subject is already discussed somewhere on this website but I wanted to add this newest public hearing alert I received from Cameron Flanagan, from my local neighborhood council. This might be an opportunity to involve and educate more people to the benefits of light rail over new freeway expansion (and monorails):
**********
Thursday, 21 November 2002
Hello friends! This is a special alert regarding the Freeway Expansion Public Hearing at 7:30pm today, Thu. November 21st (details below). The freeway expansion could potentially have a very negative impact on the Hollywood area. Rather than exploring alternatives (such as adding a monorail system), officials are instead contemplating the "double-decking" of the 101 freeway.
FREEWAY EXPANSION PUBLIC HEARING
Thursday, November 21, 7:30 PM
Location: Center for Junior Achievement, 6250 Forest Lawn Drive
This meeting is regarding the proposed widening and expansion of the 101-Hollywood Freeway, hosted by the Hollywood Knolls Community Club (HKCC) and the Cahuenga Pass Property Owners Association (CPPOA).
As currently proposed, significant portions of Cahuenga Blvds. East and West in the Cahuenga Pass will be eliminated causing several thousand vehicles an hour to be! diverted through alternate routes such as Outpost Drive, Beachwood Canyon and Laurel Canyon. The impact of additional traffic problems in these communities will be incalculable.
THIS PROPOSED EXPANSION MAY SIGNIFICANTLY DEVALUE ALL PROPERTY THAT RELATES TO THESE STREETS! Come to this meeting to hear more of the proposed details that are currently known. As you may have already heard no official public hearing has yet been scheduled.
Also invited are Councilman Tom La Bonge, Sheila Kuehl, Paul Kouretz, Cal Trans, the MTA, LADOT and others.
Since this expansion proposal is scheduled for route designation this December, our only hope now for mitigation is to impress upon our political leaders that they must find another more realistic alternative.
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Matt Kelly
User ID: 0547294 Nov 22nd 4:10 AM
Well, I ended up attending this "public meeting." I think the Valley residents still need to really focus on what they want to do about congestion. Some things were encouraging, especially a large vocal group in the audience wanting more valley-side subways. Other ideas were not so encouraging-- like monorails and underground big dig-style freeways.
Encino Homeowner Association president Gerald Silver was allowed to grandstand and attack a very nervous, ill prepared Caltrans project manager. He seemed to be opened to new public transit projects (just not over the 101) and saying that new freeway lanes would be quickly congested by "latent demand" but went on to say we need to revive the old 1960s Caltrans proposal to build freeways in a grid system every 2 miles. Huh? The sponsoring groups, the Hollywood Knolls Community Club and the Cahuenga Pass Property Owners Association, were not much help either, with the "mediators" seemingly egging on a hostile crowd.
Still, I think community outreach is possible, although at this stage, it has to be handled with kid gloves.
Roberto
User ID: 8374593 Nov 22nd 5:48 AM
we need to revive the old 1960s Caltrans proposal to build freeways in a grid system every 2 miles. Huh?
Oh no, I just read an article about that plan and commented about it in another folder. I can't believe people still want 10-lane freeways every 2-3 miles all over the County !
PForce your all-conrete and asphalt Los Angeles motor home nightmare may still come true yet !
EC
User ID: 0234554 Nov 22nd 4:07 PM
The valley..what do you expect..sigh...
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 Apr 18th [2003] 2:57 AM
From Daily News
April 17, 2003
******
101 corridor meetings delayed
By Lisa Mascaro
Staff Writer
Community meetings on the Ventura Freeway corridor study scheduled for next week have been postponed until May because a committee has not yet decided which improvement plan it will recommend.
The schedule change comes as work winds down on the study, designed to get traffic moving on the Ventura Freeway. The expansion plan has drawn the ire of residents who are concerned that the project could take their homes and businesses.
The technical committee has rescheduled the meetings for May 5, 8 and 12, and expects to make a recommendation on its preferred options later that month to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board in the hope of getting the projects added to the regional transportation plan, officials said.
Funding for the landmark $4.5 million, three-year study is going to be cut short a year earlier than planned -- eliminating the chance to draw up more specific project documents -- as funding for transportation projects is slashed because of California's budget crisis.
"That doesn't mean the whole study's jettisoned," said Agoura Hills councilwoman Louise Rishoff, also an aide to Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D- Woodland Hills, and a member of the study group. "This is going to take awhile. You just have to put one foot in front of the other."
She said getting the study to the MTA for approval is an important step. The study is only a planning document, with no funds allocated to build any of the suggested improvements.
"This will finally get it in line (for funding)," Rishoff said.
The study looks for ways to improve freeway traffic between Thousand Oaks and downtown Los Angeles. Five strategies are being studied -- including adding lanes, building a train line and double-decking the freeway in places.
Those involved have said different strategies for different sections of the freeway are likely to emerge.
This week, the Las Virgenes Council of Governments, made up of the five small cities along the Los Angeles-Ventura county line, recommended one or two car-pool lanes, as well as one regular lane, along the western-most segment of the Ventura Freeway.
San Fernando Valley residents, as well as those in Hollywood, have strongly opposed any efforts to double-deck the freeway, despite the potential improvements in traffic flow.
PForce
User ID: 0596854 Apr 18th 2:39 PM
Thank the good transit spirits that there is significant resistance to insane freeway expansion projects on the 101 and the 710. God knows, we need the jobs--but not at the expense of the degradation of life in residential neighborhoods, additional air pollution, and an even uglier and uninviting cityscape.
Good reporting Matt and Roberto.
(Roberto--I told you so!)
Art G
User ID: 9454293 Apr 19th 1:07 AM
Its pretty amazing how quick and easy it is to fund a multibillion dollar project when it involves freeways, yet it's like pulling teeth to get any $$ for badly needed rail lines.
Cliffj
User ID: 0812164 Apr 19th 3:39 AM
Ain't it the TRUTH!!!
Bart Reed
User ID: 1606604 Apr 19th 4:44 PM
US 101 Freeway Corridor Improvement Study
Community Workshops
RESCHEDULED
· 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Open House
· 6:30 - 7:00 p.m. Presentation by Study Team
· 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Q&A
NEW DATES:
Monday, May 5, 2003
First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood
1760 N. Gower Street, Hollywood
(enter parking from Carlos Avenue)
Thursday, May 8, 2003
Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center
27040 Malibu Hills Road, Calabasas
Monday, May 12, 2003
Valley Beth Shalom Temple
Glaser Hall
15739 Ventura Boulevard, Encino
· Learn what is being recommended as the Preferred Strategy
· Speak one-on-one with project experts
· Get answers to your questions
· Provide feedback to be used in finalizing the Preferred Strategy
For more information, please visit us at: www.communityspeakup.com/101
or call (866) Move-101
Þ--Þ--Þ
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 Apr 30th 5:39 AM
From Daily News
April 30, 2003
101 fix scaled back
Double-decking plan out; car-pool lanes in
By Lisa Mascaro
Staff Writer
Rejecting a controversial plan to double-deck the Ventura Freeway through the San Fernando Valley, transportation officials on Tuesday recommended widening the freeway between Thousand Oaks and Burbank and adding regular traffic and car-pool lanes.
They also said widening the freeway to accommodate two car-pool lanes in each direction would allow flexibility for express buses or even a rail line in the future, and give those who carpool direct connections to the 405 and 134 freeways.
But they decided against widening beyond the 101-134 freeway interchange to downtown as originally proposed, a change that helped to reduce the cost by half -- to about $3.4 billion.
"That freeway's supposed to move, not be a parking lot," said state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, who was instrumental in launching the $4.5 million freeway study in 2001. She said she would continue ushering it through to "make sure this goes from recommendation to reality."
Kuehl called the recommendations a "great solution for people trying to commute in the Valley."
The recommendation by a technical committee of transit officials said at-grade car-pool lanes would be cheaper than a hotly contested plan to double-deck the Ventura Freeway through the Valley.
The proposal also includes a new regular lane between Thousand Oaks and Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Under initial estimates, improvements would shave 22 minutes off a typical commute. Updated estimates were not available Tuesday.
But with work on such a major project not expected for 20 years, the committee agreed to focus now on shorter-term improvements to ramps, lanes, streets and bus routes -- options that would total $500 million.
"There is tremendous support overall for us to do something," said Rose Casey, deputy district director for the state Department of Transportation. "We need to focus on the short-term solutions we can implement and deliver to the public."
The study's technical advisory committee -- made up of representatives from Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and city public works personnel -- was months overdue in making its recommendation.
The steering committee that oversaw the study will meet May 23 before sending the recommendations to the MTA, which sets priorities for funding. Another round of community meetings on the plan will begin next week.
The MTA initially supported just one car-pool lane in each direction as the most cost-effective alternative, but supported Tuesday's recommendation -- with the stipulation that it would review the revised costs and property estimates, said Carol Inge of the MTA.
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation abstained from the vote, wanting more-detailed information on how freeway changes would impact city streets.
However, Homeowners of Encino President Gerald Silver, who has long fought freeway expansion plans -- along with residents from Studio City and the Cahuenga Pass -- noted that opposition hasn't changed much from five years ago when 10,000 residents signed a petition against car-pool lanes on the Ventura Freeway.
"This would be an absolute disaster for these residents. It's going to mean a huge number of homes and businesses will be destroyed in the process," he said. "They're looking to put the whole load on the 101. All this is going to do is appease the Agoura Hills and Calabasas people at a high cost to the Valley residents."
Residents have complained since the study got under way in 2001 that the work is being done without adequate public input.
City Councilman Tom LaBonge will introduce a resolution at today's council meeting to reconstitute the study's steering committee to include council representatives from districts along the corridor.
The three-year, $4.5 million 101 Freeway Corridor Improvement Study was launched in 2001 after Kuehl and the small West Valley cities of the Las Virgenes Council of Governments secured funding to look into the freeway, which is among the most congested in the nation.
The ambitious study is set to close down in June, one year earlier than planned because state funding is jeopardized by the state budget crisis.
The Automobile Club of Southern California supports the recommendation.
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 May 2nd 4:58 AM
From Daily News
May 2, 2003
*******
Hope on the 101
If done properly, Ventura Freeway expansion could benefit everyone
The easy part is now behind us; extreme challenges now lie ahead.
No, we're not talking about rebuilding Iraq, but expanding the Ventura Freeway, a task that, for local government, should be about as challenging as winning the peace promises to be for Washington.
The easy part -- devising a strategy -- is now behind us, with a collection of local officials deciding against double-decking the freeway in favor of widening it.
Now comes the hard part: Selling the plan to the public. Neighborhood groups have already begun mobilizing against the project, even though work isn't expected for 20 years.
Local communities, which have seen their interests trampled many times before, are rightly skittish about a plan that would require the destruction of homes and businesses, while bringing yet more traffic, noise and pollution through their communities.
It's going to be a tough sell -- and one heck of a fight.
To win over a skeptical public, local leaders will have to do a lot of convincing, but they should be able to pull it off. After all, the facts are in their favor.
No one denies that the 101 Freeway is overly congested, or that its infamous traffic jams come at a tremendous cost in terms of wasted time, pollution and quality of life. With the local population swelling, the need for major improvements couldn't be more clear.
And the plan that officials have decided on is one that has much to offer the local community, especially the San Fernando Valley and the cities to the east and west of it.
Under the $3.4 billion proposal, the state would add one regular traffic lane in each direction where the 101 now has only four lanes. It would also add two car-pool lanes in each direction between Thousand Oaks and the 134 Freeway.
More promising still, widening the freeway also opens up the possibility of other improvements in the future, such as replacing one or more of the new lanes with a dedicated express busway or a light-rail line.
The result would be dramatic improvements along the 101's interchanges with the 405 and 134 freeways, as well as a much shorter ride for commuters traveling within and through the Valley. The improved access would, in turn, make the area more attractive for business and new jobs, and more livable for the vast majority of nearby residents, who would see their property values rise.
For all the benefits expansion has to offer, local communities should be willing to give the plan a serious look and keep an open mind.
But that's not to say that they should roll over and accept whatever the state throws their way. Before even preliminary work begins on the project, a long and involved community dialogue is in order, one that brings to light neighbors' concerns and leads to the creation of reasonable mitigations.
With sufficient forethought and planning, the 101 Freeway expansion could be a tremendous asset for all of those living and working in and around the San Fernando Valley.
This is not the time for the various interests to dig in their heels, but rather it is a time to come together and find a reasonable solution.
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 May 6th 5:02 AM
From Daily News
May 6, 2003
Gridlock
Re "101 fix scaled back" (April 30):
Why are we spending money on more studies? As long as freeways are expanded there will be continued gridlock. Build a double deck for buses and trucks through busy corridors and provide parking structures along freeway routes and let the independent rush-hour driver finally decide that public transportation may be a better way to go.
I realize that isn't the answer to all one-person-per-car drivers, but hey, let's stop catering.
Marilyn Sims
Reseda
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 May 6th 5:10 AM
From Los Angeles Times
May 6, 2003
Hollywood-Area Residents Oppose $3.4-Billion Ventura Freeway Plan
About 80 people attend the first of three public meetings being held on the proposal to add four carpool lanes to ease congestion.
By Caitlin Liu, Times Staff Writer
Dozens of residents of Hollywood and the Cahuenga Pass told transportation planners Monday night that they oppose plans to expand the Ventura Freeway, even if the proposal doesn't threaten to destroy homes in their neighborhoods.
Several residents, speaking at a meeting organized by the state Department of Transportation, said they viewed the $3.4-billion proposal as an unfair subsidy for people who live in the west San Fernando Valley and Ventura County and commute to downtown Los Angeles.
"I'm very against the catering to people who live so far away from where they work," said Joyce Dyrector, a television and film writer who lives in the Cahuenga Pass. "They chose to live out there and work downtown, which I think is wrong."
Transportation planners, she said, "are willing to destroy the lives of people who live here."
The community meeting, which drew about 80 people, was the first of three intended to allow residents to voice opinions about recommendations made last week by a group of transportation planners to widen the 101 Freeway by two carpool lanes in both directions for 31 miles between Thousand Oaks and Studio City. The proposal also calls for adding a regular lane to those freeway segments that have only four.
It would affect 550 acres of freeway-adjacent land and require the demolition of homes between Studio City and Ventura County, especially in the mid-Valley area. It would not require the taking of homes from Studio City to downtown.
The recommendations also include widening ramps, adding transit service and improving nearby streets throughout the 40-mile corridor from downtown Los Angeles to Thousand Oaks.
The planners, who represent Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the La Virgenes-Malibu Council of Governments and the Automobile Club of Southern California, do not recommend widening the Hollywood Freeway portion of the 101 at this time. Before that happens, they said, the congestion caused by a tangled four-tier interchange in downtown Los Angeles needed to be addressed.
The recommendations still need approval from a steering committee of transportation agencies and elected officials, which will meet later this month to decide whether to forward the proposal to the MTA board for approval.
Monday's meeting also attracted some local officials, including City Councilman Tom LaBonge.
"I love freeways," LaBonge said. "They're an important part of the transportation equation." But, he added, "We have to be sensitive to neighborhoods."
Some residents expressed support for the widening.
Roger Davis, a concert tour booker who lives in Valley Village, said he's tired of the rush-hour congestion on the 101.
"We've got to have a solution to this. The people have been saying, 'Not in my back yard, not in my back yard,' for 30 years."
Bart Reed
User ID: 1606604 May 6th 7:51 AM
Los Angeles Times: Thursday, May 1, 2003
4 More Carpool Lanes Urged to Ease 101 Crunch
The $3.36-billion effort would include a 31-mile stretch from Studio City to Thousand Oaks.
By Caitlin Liu
Times Staff Writer
When transportation planners this week recommended
widening portions of the 101 Freeway, they
realized it could mean destroying some homes and businesses along the way, but they felt it was more important to tackle the corridor's worsening traffic problems.
The planners rejected four other options for improving the roadway as too expensive or inadequate in relieving congestion.
After months of poring over different scenarios, the group of about 15 planners—including representatives from local and state transport-
ation agencies—on Tuesday agreed to propose the addition of two carpool lanes in each direction on a 31-mile stretch of the Ventura Freeway from Thousand Oaks to Studio City.
The $3.36-billion package also proposes a fifth regular lane for sections of the Ventura Freeway that now have only four lanes.
The recommendation, which includes short- and medium-term projects to improve ramps, connectors,
nearby streets and transit, would affect 550 acres
of freeway-adjacent property, but it is expected to save motorists a cumulative 78,000 hours a day.
"This one provides the most benefit with less proportional increase to project cost," said Rose Casey, a deputy district director for Los Angeles and Ventura counties for the California Department
of Transportation, the agency in charge of a study
on improving the 40-mile freeway corridor from downtown Los Angeles to Thousand Oaks.
The recommendation by the planners, who were part of a technical advisory committee, will be considered May 23 by a steering committee of transportation and elected officials.
The latter group will then decide what to propose to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board for action, possibly by this summer.
One option that planners rejected outright was a $6.3-billion proposal to add a second tier to parts of the 101. That idea, which had ignited the most community opposition, would have affected
585 acres along the corridor, while saving motor-ists a cumulative 97,000 hours a day.
The plan also called for adding a rail line down the middle of the freeway, but the planners decid-
ed that option made little sense now because a new rapid busway running parallel and north of the freeway is expected to open in a few years.
Another option was to add only one carpool lane in each direction, saving motorists an estimated 58,000 hours a day.
MTA planners originally preferred that proposal because they believed it would be less intrusive for surrounding communities, said Carol Inge, a deputy executive officer for the agency. But they reconsidered when they received more data.
With a price tag of $2.95 billion and an estimated
500 acres affected, that project would be almost as costly as the two-carpool-lane strategy preferred by Caltrans and others, Inge said.
A third option was a $512-million proposal that would involve widening ramps, beefing up bus service and improving streets along the corridor. That proposal would affect 33 freeway-adjacent acres and save drivers 17,000 hours a day.
While those ideas are also part of the more-ambit-ious freeway-widening proposal,transportation officials felt that approach alone was not enough.
The final option on the table, which was to do nothing, was not seriously considered,partici-pants said.
"The congestion of the freeway now is just not tolerable," Inge said. Without taking a formal vote, most of the planners reached a consensus on the proposal after each agency shared its views.
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation, however, abstained from taking a stance.
The department will take a position once it receives more information on how the proposal would affect congestion on city streets, said James Okazaki, assistant general manager of the
department. "As far as the [department] is concerned, we want to see improvements to the freeway," he said.
Also Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council approved a resolution by Councilman Tom LaBonge asking the technical advisory committee for a more detailed analysis of the potential effect on
neighborhoods.
LaBonge's original resolution, before he offered an amended version, sought to "minimize the displacement of people and businesses" and "oppose any proposal to widen the 101 Freeway" beyond property that is already owned by Caltrans.
He withdrew his original proposal because "it caused some alarm by others," including the city Transportation Department, LaBonge said. "Some council members have a different opinion [on freeway-widening] from what I do."
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