The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 19

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01HD205 By CAITLIN LIU TIMES STAFF WRITER The narrow roads winding past the hedge-lined estates of the Encino hills seem an unlikely setting for an urban traffic hell. But just wait until rush hour. when commuters from the San Fernando flatlands flood into the hills, anxious for a faster way across the Santa Monica Mountains. They come with engines roaring, brakes screeching and horns blaring. Some gesture rudely at residents struggling to get out of their own driveways.

And on occasion, a four-wheeled invader will vault a curb. nasty, nasty said Margery Grossman, pointing to where out-of-control cars had plowed into her Saab and two brick walls in front of her home on Ballina Canyon Road. think of the fact that people live With commute times getting longer, many Southern California neighborhoods have seen their peace and quiet shatteredby shortcut-seeking motorists. Each weekday, more than 120,000 commuters use residential streets to traverse the Santa Monica Mountains between the Valley and the rest of Los Angeles. In the last 25 years, such traffic has grown about said Yadi Hashemi, transportation engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

One area suffering the brunt of this is this 4.5-square-mile swath of the Encino hills. The problem is so bad that the city is holding a vote- by-mail referendum on possible solutions. But the referendum is also fueling an uproar among the many drivers and nearby residents who live in the hills. They call attempts to restrict traffic elitist. it because some of these homes are more valuable than others that they can prevent people from using public asked Carol Glushon, who lives in a more modest Encino neighborhood north of Ventura Boulevard.

residents there own the Residents Invited to Vote on Restrictions The Transportation Department has mailed ballots to 4,800 households in the Encino hills. Residents have until May 3 to cast their votes. The changes would attempt to restrict the number of cars heading south into the hills along three miles of Ventura Boulevard. Residents will be asked whether the city should make traffic lights stay red longer, install no-turn signs and add a left-turn light at a San Diego Freeway onramp. The department requires two- thirds approval by at least of the surrounding households.

The informal balloting is not regulated by city election laws. It is the third and by far largest traffic referendum, also believed to be the biggest in the country. From Portland, to Dayton, Ohio, such neighborhood polls are becoming a popular means of gauging support for measures such as speed bumps, roundabouts and street closures. want to make sure are happy with the said Reid Ewing, author of the 1999 Federal Highway Administration book Calming: State of the In the 1950s, transit planners saw the need for more freeways through the Santa Monicas, including a Reseda Freeway just west of the Encino hills. It was among the many that were envisioned for the Los Angeles region but later abandoned because of neighborhood opposition, among other reasons.

As a result, traffic continued to pour into the residential streets of the hills. Now, an estimated of the cars on Encino hills roads are cut-through traffic, according to the Transportation Department. neighborhood has become a freeway said Pauline Chan, a senior transportation engineer for the city. Artie Harris, a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, pointed to his flower bed, which has twice been smashed by cars that skidded over the sidewalk. Up and down Calneva Drive, trees have been toppled and utility poles rammed.

guy negotiate curve and ended up in the bushes, right said Harris, motioning across the street from his home of 31 years. car rolled a few times over hecontin- ued, directing a finger farther down the street. Then there was the Corvette that plowed into his parked sedan. The driver came to getting decapitated, said Harris, holding his hands inches apart. As he spoke, a electric gate slid open and a black Lexus nosed out, causing a sport utility vehicle speeding up the hill to screech to a halt.

you see Harris shouted. just missed getting hit! There are near misses Roads Not Intended for Heavy Traffic Some mountain-crossing primary roads, such as Sepulveda, Laurel Canyon and Beverly Glen boulevards, are expected to shoulder heavy traffic. These so-called secondary highways are relatively straight and wide. Many of their homes sit far apart, behind dense foliage, and have driveways that feed onto side roads. Most roads in the Encino hills are more like capillaries.

They were never intended to carry big traffic loads. The streets swoop this way and that, with blind curves and steep climbs. A few months ago, a car speeding down Calneva careered onto Shahriar estate. It crunched the base of a Greek statue, demolished some brickwork and knocked over a pair of mature palm trees. a said Rad, a hegazed ruefully at two replacement saplings he planted in front of his home.

He and his wife, Atoosa, want to move. Their daughter, Shilyn, is having trouble sleeping because of honking horns and gunning motors, said Atoosa Rad. As traffic-calming measures go, the proposals for the hills are moderate, with a goal of reducing traffic by said Chan, of the Transportation Department. In the early the city considered more radical solutions for the as barricading streets. But those ideas were nixed when residents realized how inconvenient they could be.

Other fixes the city tried had unintended effects. At a T-intersection across from house, the city installed stop signs about a year ago to slow the traffic on Calneva. But the signs caused mile-long backups, fueled minor incidents of road rage and did nothing to stop some cars. The signs were eventually removed. was just a said Jack Reynolds, chief of the bureau of traffic management.

Now the Transportation Department is pursuing changes one small step at a time. It plans to start by tweaking four traffic signals so there is less green time for cars trying to cross Ventura Boulevard to enter the hills. If that fails to divert enough traffic, the city will adjust more lights. A last resort would be signs prohibiting rush-hour turns into the hills. The proposals make drivers shudder.

think I would tear my hair said Debbie Plotkin, a Woodland Hills mother. Plotkin motors through the hills to take her son, Adam, to his private school on Mulholland Drive. If she were forced to take the Ventura and San Diego freeways, two of most congested, her half-hour drive could stretch to an hour, she said. Times staff writer Andrea Perera contributed to this report. BRIAN VANDER BRUG Los Angeles Times A steady stream of morning commuters uses Havenhurst Avenue in Encino hills as a shortcut over the Santa Monica Mountains.

Los Angeles Time Residents of Encino Hills are holding a traffic election to help unclog their streets, which are being jammed by shortcut- seeking-commuters. Los Angeles Encino Reservoir Voting boundary for traffic election 405 101 CANANEACANANEACANANEA DR.DR.DR. CALNEVA DR. BALLINA CYN. RD.

Source: Los Angeles Department of Transportation Traffic Jammed Traffic: Homeowners in Encino accuse rush-hour drivers seeking shortcuts of destroying their way of life. City invites them to vote on remedies. it because some of these homes are more valuable than others that they can prevent people from using public streets? The residents there own the Carol Glushon Encino resident Neighbors Fight Onslaught of Commuters To donate time or money, call 1-877-READBY9. latimes.com/readingby9.