Ventura Boulevard battleground

Ventura Boulevard used to be a battleground for high-rise offices. Now, the battle is over dense residential development -- and the traffic it might cause. The Times' Amanda Covarrubias reports:

Ventura Boulevard has long been a place where you went for sushi, doctor's appointments and meetings with your lawyer. Now it could become a place where you live. The storied thoroughfare of shopping centers and office towers that snakes along the San Fernando Valley's southern flank will get its first large-scale apartments and condominiums this spring, perhaps sparking a trend that could significantly transform the 18-mile commercial corridor. Starting in Universal City and winding through Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana and Woodland Hills, the boulevard is home to restaurants, boutiques, car washes and supermarkets. Often used by drivers as an alternative to the 101 Freeway, the boulevard's traffic jams are notorious.

Antelope Valley gets some help

Bus service connecting the Palmdale Airport to Amtrak/Metrolink stations in the Santa Clarita Valley and Van Nuys will begin Wednesday. Dubbed the Palmdale Flyer, the bus line is modeled after the popular FlyAway service that takes travelers to Los Angeles International Airport from Van Nuys, Westwood and Union Station downtown. The Palmdale service will operate twice daily, departing from Santa Clarita’s Via Princessa station (19201 Via Princessa) and the Van Nuys station (7724 Van Nuys Blvd.) 90 minutes before United Airlines flights to San Francisco International Airport. L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who collaborated with the county Department of Public Works, the Antelope Valley Transit Authority, the city of Palmdale, Los Angeles World Airports and United Airlines to launch the project, will accompany local officials on the Palmdale Flyer’s inaugural run.

Unclogging the 15 Freeway

We all know the 15 Freeway can be a slow route to Las Vegas. But the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports some radical ideas are being talked about to unclog the bottleneck. Tolls coming?:

During its meeting Tuesday, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors will make recommendations on two state bills that could alleviate traffic on the 15 Freeway. The first, Assembly Bill 1954, would give the Riverside County Transportation Commission the authority to develop high-occupancy toll lanes on the 15 Freeway. "We need to explore all the options. That is, new lanes rather than changing existing lanes into the high-occupancy toll lanes," said county spokesman Ray Smith. The proposed project would create an additional two high-occupancy lanes in the median of the 15 Freeway from the San Bernardino County line to California Highway 74 in Lake Elsinore. The bill also includes a proposal to directly connect the new high-occupancy lanes to the 91 Freeway and the extension of the 91 Express Lane. According to a report to the board, only one lane, each way, could have been built simply using sales-tax revenues.

Playa del Rey alert

The Daily Breeze reports some traffic tie-ups ahead in the Playa del Rey area:

The work planned along Pershing Drive - which is scheduled to start Tuesday - is designed to make the area safer for pedestrians. The improvements will bring a new traffic signal and street lighting where Pershing meets Nicholson Street and Cabora Road, just off Culver Boulevard in Playa del Rey. Crews also plan to realign the crosswalk and sidewalks, replace some fencing and synchronize signals in the area. The traffic calming measure was a condition of approval of the nearby Playa Vista development, which is rising on the east side of Lincoln Boulevard at Jefferson Boulevard, said Cora Jackson Fossett, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.

Crackdown on bandit signs

Officials are beginning to crack down on all those small signs advertising weight loss, cell phones and mortgages in the sides of freeways. The Daily News reports this action in Santa Clarita:

Need a chimney sweep, a paternity test or credit repair? It might get a little harder to find such businesses as Santa Clarita clamps down on illegal signs along its manicured roadways. Last week, the City Council hiked fines for placing the "bandit" signs in median strips, on utility poles, next to freeway ramps and elsewhere in public rights of way. The fine will jump from $50 to $250 for a first violation and from $100 to $1,000 for a second violation within one year. "Bandit signs are worse than litter. It's as bad as graffiti," said Councilman TimBen Boydston, who said he has removed 250 signs over a two-month period.