Reversible lane OKd for Sepulveda Boulevard

The Times' Steve Hymon reports that the controversial Sepulveda Boulevard reversible lane plan is moving forward:

After years of talking and planning and more talking and a little arguing, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved a reversible lane for the Sepulveda Boulevard tunnel near the Sepulveda Pass. The tunnel has been a vexing problem for years because it can accommodate only three lanes of traffic, whereas the rest of Sepulveda through the Santa Monica Mountains is four lanes. Motorists trying to avoid the congested 405 Freeway between the Westside and the San Fernando Valley use Sepulveda. Complicating matters, the three lanes in the tunnel include two that are designated for southbound traffic and just one for northbound. As a result, afternoon rush-hour traffic returning to the Valley must squeeze from two lanes to one to get through the tunnel. The new plan seeks to remedy that by making the middle lane reversible. Two lanes in the tunnel will handle southbound traffic most of the time. Between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays, the middle lane will switch to northbound. The project is expected to cost $11 million and be completed in 2009. The city also plans to add a lane to southbound Sepulveda between Skirball Center Drive and Bergreen Place to help traffic flow at the chronically clogged intersection of Skirball Center and Sepulveda.

Expo Line: Is it safe?

Concern is growing over the safety of the street-level Expo Line extension from downtown to Culver City. Some in Cheviot Hills have long opposed it. But now it sounds like some educators have concerns:

At 6:30 p.m., a forum will be held to address concerns of South Los Angeles residents about school safety and "environmental racism" issues that have prompted lawsuits from homeowners associations over construction of the Expo Light Rail line. LAUSD board member Marguerite LaMotte, LAUSD Parent Collaborative President Mary Johnson, Expo Line Construction Authority Manager Joel Sandberg and Damien Goodmon, campaign coordinator for the Citizen’s Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line, are among those expected to participate. Dorsey High School, auditorium, 3537 Farmdale Ave. (CNS)

The ugly truth about synchronized traffic signals

Remember all the fanfare about synchronizing traffic signals? Well, The Times' Duke Helfand gets to the not-so-fun truth:

A new attempt to reduce congestion throughout Los Angeles by synchronizing all traffic signals will have only a minimal effect on the most bottlenecked intersections despite assurances from leaders that driving delays will decrease, officials acknowledged Tuesday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Tuesday that Los Angeles would receive $150 million to synchronize the city's 4,385 intersections with signals -- reducing drive times up to 16%, or shaving about 5 minutes from a 30-minute drive. But officials with the city's Department of Transportation said synchronization alone would not bring much relief to intersections beset by bumper-to-bumper traffic, including the junctions of Highland and Franklin avenues in Hollywood, and Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards in Sherman Oaks. "At some places, you may not be able to solve the problem," said John Fisher, assistant general manager of the transportation department.

57 Freeway extension: Act 2

 

Good luck on this: extending the 57 Freeway from the 22 to the 405. It's possible, the Times' David Reyes says, but likely to hit political opposition:

Extending the 57 Freeway down the Santa Ana River to connect with the San Diego Freeway in Fountain Valley is "potentially feasible" but would cost an estimated $2 billion, according to a study released Monday. The concept was first proposed decades ago to help alleviate congestion and complete an eight-mile extension of the 57 Freeway that has gone unfinished since the early 1960s. The proposed four-lane section of freeway would be elevated above the river. The route would cut through parts of Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.  Past proposals have focused on routing a six-lane freeway down the riverbed. Its width would cause the highway to encroach on neighborhoods and shopping centers in Santa Ana. Such a project was estimated to cost $1.3 billion in the mid-1980s and has been met with unrelenting political opposition.

I-5: Open

All lanes of the 5 were open this morning (except the truck lanes). This averts the "Black Monday" traffic nightmare many feared.

The 5 shutdown: Day 2

--Caltrans says this morning that they are still thinking of Tuesday as the earliest for reopening the 5 (and that's just the southbound lanes.

--See the detours in the posts below. But don't take this one (at least for now):

A mudslide blocked Placerita Canyon Road east of the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway today. California Highway Patrol officers said both lanes of the two-lane rural road were covered with rocks and mud at 6:45 this morning. By 9:30, a SigAlert had been issued for a road closure to allow Los Angeles County Department of Public Works crews to remove the mud. CHP officers said they expected the mud to be off the road by 10:15 a.m. Placerita Canyon Road is one of the detours being used by cars avoiding Newhall Pass. It links Route 14 at Santa Clarita to Sand Canyon Road, which winds south over the mountains to Little Tujunga Canyon Road and eventually to Sylmar.