Ventura and 405 Freeway Closing Schedules
Caltrans will close all lanes of the northbound 405 from Ventura Boulevard to the 101 Freeway for four nights starting Thursday, June 7.
Here's the schedule:
-- Thurs., June 7, 1- 5 a.m.
-- Fri., June 8, 2 - 5 a.m.
-- Sat., June 9, 3 - 5 a.m.
-- Sun., June 10, 2 -7 a.m.
The closings are part of a $46 million project at the 101/405 Interchange extending the current auxiliary lane on northbound I-405 past the Greenleaf off-ramp to the U.S. 101 connector, permanently closing the loop on-ramp from eastbound Ventura Boulevard and constructing the Dickens Street bypass.
The project is planned to be finished this summer.
Here are my suggestions for correcting the problems on the 101 freeway.
1: Display speeds to be driven in each lane: Since most commuters haven't learned how to drive with a trained teacher, most believe the fast lane is the "Safe Lane," Thus leaving the slow-lane empty. If we paint 50 mph in the fifth (closes to off ramps), 55 mph in the fourth, 60 in the third, 65 in the second and PASS ONLY (get rid of the DIAMOND LANES) in the first, I believe this will alleviate the problem with out a lot of expense or a need to add extra lanes.
2: Pass a law that states no driving and cell phone use: It might be true that most cell-phone drivers are not in the accidents, but they ARE the cause of them. How many times do you know you are behind someone on the phone, because they constantly break, even though no one is in front of them, or a weave in their lane?
3: Only use the electronic emergency signs for the freeway they are on. Most of the commuters do not read, or can't read English, so if they see the sign lit, they erroneously believe there is an accident up ahead and slam on the breaks. (Example: Grapevine was shut down, I was on the 101 just past the 405 and the sign mentioned the 5 was closed. It didn't effect us at all, but still traffic came to a standstill.
4: Give tickets for impeding traffic. There have been MANY times that I got past a car and there were open spaces in front of them, yet looking in the rearview mirror, the line-of-demarcation was apparent. This will put more money into the city. Should we get cityhood, this will definitely help.
5: Give tickets for non-use of turn signals: A $5.00 ticket for every infraction up to ten, then it doubles to $10.00. After 25 tickets the price per ticket goes up to $25.00 each. The $5 does not seem much, but the inconvenience of having to stop should help alleviate this quickly. (I believe we have a non-use of turn signals on the law books already, but it is not enforced.)
An easy fix before we spend billions on car pool lanes, tunnels, subways, etc. is for everyone on the freeway to drive about two car lengths apart. Try it on a congested freeway. You may only be moving at about 15 miles per hour, but you will not be slamming on your brakes every few seconds. Of course, you have to be willing to let someone merge into traffic or change lanes (which seems to really go against the grain of LA drivers)in front of you or it doesn't work. If nothing else everyone experiences much less stress. The traffic is then allowed to flow more smoothly without constant starts and stops.
But if not allowing ANY car to merge onto the freeway in front of you is extremely important to your existence, then this won't work. Try it, you'll find you may like it! I read somewhere that this has been scientifically proven to actually reduce congestion.