Survey Fuels Call for Traffic Curbs : Encino: A city study supports residents’ contentions that commuters from other areas use their streets for shortcuts.
Traffic controls such as speed bumps, turning restrictions and road closures will be considered for the Encino hills, after a city study concluded that most of the rush-hour traffic clogging neighborhood streets comes from outside the area.
The Department of Transportation traffic survey has increased calls from residents for traffic controls that will ease morning gridlock on several streets in the neighborhood. A spokeswoman for City Councilman Marvin Braude said meetings with residents will be scheduled next month to gather input on what steps to take to ease the problem.
The traffic study, completed last week, concludes that 69% of the morning rush-hour trips through the neighborhoods between roughly Ventura Boulevard and Mulholland Drive are made by motorists from outside the area who are using shortcuts south over the Santa Monica Mountains.
Residents have long complained that shortcutting commuters turn streets like Mooncrest Drive, Hayvenhurst Avenue, Calneva Drive, Louise Avenue and others into dangerous thoroughfares of heavy traffic.
“We cannot get out of our driveway in the morning,†said Sally Cassell, a 35-year resident of Mooncrest Drive, which is a popular shortcut. “The cars are coming through like a freeway. My husband has to walk out in the street and hold back the traffic so I can back out. We take our lives in our hands if we want to go out.â€
The study, conducted Oct. 25, surveyed cars entering the hillside neighborhood at 12 points, primarily Ventura Boulevard intersections, and exiting onto Mulholland Drive or southbound Sepulveda Boulevard. License plate numbers of the cars were videotaped and then traced so that surveyors could determine the origin of the motorists.
The Department of Transportation report says that 1,013 of the 1,479 cars leaving the neighborhood during the peak morning hours were registered to people living outside Encino hills.
Of those motorists, about 45% came from nearby Tarzana, Woodland Hills or areas of Encino north of Ventura Boulevard, according to the study. An almost equal amount, 43%, came from communities on the floor of the San Fernando Valley, ranging from Chatsworth to Van Nuys.
About 12% of the cars were from even farther away, with license plates registered to addresses in Saugus, Camarillo and, in some cases, out-of-state locations.
Cindy Miscikowski, Braude’s chief deputy, said the study shows that traffic controls are needed.
“These winding hillside streets, the shortcuts, are getting very heavy abuse of traffic,†she said.
The traffic study lists several options ranging from restricting turns from Ventura Boulevard into the neighborhood to closing off streets such as Calneva Drive near Mulholland Drive. Thomas Jones, the senior transportation engineer who designed the study, said some of the measures, such as street closures, will affect residents of the hillside as much as shortcut commuters.
Madeline DeAntonio, president of the 400-member Encino Hillside Traffic Safety Organization, said the study vindicates residents who have complained for years about traffic woes. She said some traffic controls listed in the study, such as stop signs and turning restrictions, will be welcomed but are not long-term solutions.
She said the traffic group advocates the long-proposed completion of a Reseda Boulevard extension to Mulholland Drive as a major outlet for West Valley commuters who need to go to West Los Angeles each morning.
“The study validates the crying need for viable traffic outlets,†DeAntonio said. “It is irresponsible of the city not to have viable traffic outlets in the West Valley.â€
The Reseda extension through state parklands is opposed by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Braude favors a bill proposed by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Sherman Oaks) that could block the extension.
DeAntonio said members of her group will meet Thursday evening to discuss the results of the traffic survey and to plan a strategy for getting the Reseda extension. Support for the Reseda project and traffic controls is strong among members of the traffic group, many of whom must fight to get out of their driveways each morning.
“It is bumper to bumper outside my house from 7 to 9:15 each morning,†said Brian Shapiro, who lives on Hayvenhurst Avenue. “We’ve had two cars hit on the street, our housekeeper’s car was hit on the street, we’ve lost a dog on the street. It’s a bad situation.â€
Encino Interlopers
Who drives through hillside area
A traffic study determined that 69% of the cars that drive through the Encino hillside during morning rush hour traffic are from outside the area. This is where those motorists come from:
Encino (north of Ventura Boulevard): 15%
Tarzana: 19%
Woodland Hills: 11%
Van Nuys (north of Sepulveda Basin): 8.5%
Reseda: 8.5%
Northridge: 10.5%
Canoga Park: 7%
Chatsworth, Granada Hills, West Hills, Sepulveda (combined): 8.5%
Other communities: 12%
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