Westside Repairs Add to Drivers' Post-Quake Torments : Roads: Many ask why Robertson Boulevard work could not wait until reopening of freeway. Officials say delays would have been costly.

By PAUL FELDMAN

March 3, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

It’s one thing for traffic to grind to a halt because of an act of God.

But it’s a whole different story, insist aggravated motorists, when city bureaucrats barricade portions of post-earthquake freeway detours and alternate routes in order to undertake unrelated road and drainage repairs.

That’s the case on the Westside near Beverly Center, where bedeviled drivers are fuming about a pair of long-planned projects that have added a new layer of frustration to an already hellish commute.

The coup de grace for some commuters occurred this week when Robertson Boulevard was closed to through traffic at Burton Way for 17 days in order to help complete a $1.35-million storm drain and road repair contract.

“It’s a very simple thing,” said importer Peter Foster, while stuck for more than 10 minutes along a three-block stretch of Burton Way late Tuesday afternoon. “They shouldn’t try to repair roads right now when it’s not absolutely necessary. They should concentrate on the freeways.”

Why couldn’t such work be postponed until the Santa Monica Freeway is back in one piece?

Government officials argue that delays would cost the city untold thousands of dollars in added costs charged by the private contractor installing 3,500 feet of concrete storm drains under Burton Way. Moreover, contends City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, the pain is only relative.

“This would be a problem no matter when we do it, with or without the earthquake,” said Yaroslavsky, who gave the go-ahead to the project, which is in his council district. “It won’t be easy. (But) people need to take a bullet, shove it between their teeth and bite hard.”

The councilman said the drainage work has been needed for many years because water collects along the roadway after rainstorms and even after owners of adjacent apartment buildings water their lawns. Burton Way itself has been “one of the worst streets in the entire city for many years. It has been disintegrating and is in desperate need of reconstruction,” he added.

Although a contract with Excel Paving Co. of Long Beach was signed last year, the work did not begin until several days after the Jan. 17 temblor. Still, that was no reason to turn back, Yaroslavsky said.

“To be honest with you, I’m one of these guys who believes once the Novocain is in your system and you find out you need three fillings rather than two, you go ahead and get it over with when you’re already in the chair,” he said. “Usually, your councilman is there to make you feel good. But once in a while, you elect a councilman to do what’s in your best interest even if it doesn’t appear to be at first blush. This is one such case.”

To be sure, Yaroslavsky has his share of supporters.

“Every Mercedes, BMW and Jaguar that came down Robertson from the hills scratched their bottoms because of the huge potholes,” noted a sales associate at an antique shop near the epicenter of the roadwork.

“I did it myself in my Ford only once,” she hastened to add, “because my car is so small it fits between the potholes.”

However, some motorists, stuck in a maze of orange and white road barriers, sounded as if they were capable of rearranging the councilman’s face, if not the car bumpers of more genteel motorists in front of them.

“It’s wrong, it’s ridiculous,” shouted a Bulgarian emigre, who said the chaotic situation reminded him of public works projects in his native land.

“I think it sucks, because of the freeway,” another anguished driver said.

As road crews completed their work day late Tuesday, there were no traffic officers on hand to assist motorists befuddled by the detour signs or to monitor the moves of the angrier drivers, and the thoroughfare turned into a sea of confusion.

One driver who identified herself as pop singer Anita O’Day sounded much like the character in the old Kingston Trio song who couldn’t find his way off the Boston subway system. “There’s just no place to go. How do I make a left?” she complained as she neared the Robertson intersection.

“I’ve been around two times already, maybe,” echoed Russian immigrant Boris Mosenzhnik, who works as a mechanical engineer for the Los Angeles Unified School District. “The nighttime is the best time to do this.”

The Burton Way project, due to be completed in early summer, is one of several road repair bottlenecks between the Westside and Downtown Los Angeles these days. Among them are projects on Third Street east of La Cienega Boulevard and on Beverly Boulevard west of Vermont Avenue.

Although the Burton/Robertson intersection is far north of the Santa Monica Freeway, Burton and other roads nearby are often used as alternatives to the closed freeway, and Robertson, to the south, is a major freeway detour route.

Project engineer Ken Wang of the city Bureau of Engineering said there was little choice but to temporarily close all but one lane eastbound and westbound on Burton and to fully barricade the north-south intersection, where more than 1,500 cars an hour pass during peak periods.

“You need a bulldozer and a hauling truck for removal,” Wang said. “The equipment takes up most of the street. There is no room to keep it open, really.”

City transportation engineering associate Randy Tanijiri said his department had recommended against closing the intersection, but that safety considerations won out. “In terms of building the project versus traffic, the council office decided they wanted the project built and in a safe manner.”

The cost of delay is difficult to pinpoint because there is no specific clause in the public works contract concerning city-instigated delays, said Stan Sysak of the Bureau of Engineering.

But any delay would result in a “substantial” cost, according to Victor Hernandez of Excel Paving. “Nowadays, contractors, all they do is sue to get their money,” said Wang.

Yaroslavsky, for his part, says that “any intelligent commuter on the Westside knows not to take Robertson all the way up to Burton or Beverly unless they have business there.”

“But we’ll live through this.”

Such words were of little consolation to Beverly Hills Cab Co. driver Serof Abedian, as he sat stuck, fare-less, in traffic. “This is a very, very busy street,” he muttered.

“It’s unbelievable.”

Trouble Spot Robertson Boulevard is closed to through traffic at Burton Way in order to complete a $1.35 million storm drain and road improvement project. Traffic on Robertson in both directions must turn right on Burton Way. The project intensifies already clogged traffic on Westside streets used as alternatives to the Santa Monica Freeway, severly damaged in the Northridge earthquake.