Local News in Brief : Freeway Truck Ban Urged
The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to seek state and federal approval to ban trucks from the Ventura Freeway during rush hours while a widening project is under way.
But city transportation experts have said it will be difficult to obtain approval of the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration because a convenient alternate route for trucks is unavailable.
A four-year project to add a lane to each side of the Ventura Freeway between the Hollywood Freeway and Parkway Calabasas is scheduled to begin sometime between mid-February and mid-March.
The closest alternate freeway route is the Simi Valley Freeway, which turns into a narrow two-lane road through Moorpark. There are no surface streets parallel to the Ventura Freeway west of Calabasas.
A Caltrans official said it would probably take “a matter of months” for state and federal officials to act on the city’s request.
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