2008 Woodie Awards
405 Parking Lot
101/405 Interchange Is Getting A Face-lift
Johana Maas
Issue date: 3/3/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The San Fernando Valley's US-101/I-405 interchange linking the Ventura and San Diego freeways has been named the worst bottleneck in America, but may soon be less nightmarish.
A project is underway on the 101-405 to widen ramps, add a carpool lane on the northbound San Diego Freeway into the valley and otherwise ease the daily commute for some 318,000 drivers. It will save more than 738 million gallons of fuel and nearly 50 minutes in time per round-trip for the average commuter, according to a report released by the American Highway Users Alliance.
Bottlenecks caused by too many cars on too little road are to blame for about half of all traffic jams. Traffic accidents, work zones, bad weather and poor signal timing account for the rest, said the report. The modest improvements to bring traffic flow to a more acceptable level will yield tremendous benefits, despite factoring in additional delays during reconstruction and annual traffic growth.
The improvements will protect drivers from an estimated 9,017 crashes, including 36 fatalities and 4,427 injuries, according to the report. There will also be reductions in emissions of carbon monoxide by 63 percent, smog-causing volatile organic compounds by 60 percent and carbon dioxide by 82 percent.
The report states that modest improvements aimed at bringing traffic flow to minimum acceptable levels at all 233 bottlenecks would, over the 20-year life of the improvement projects, reduce the amount of time commuters have to spend on the road, save thousands of lives, prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries and help us safeguard the environment.
"While there is no single solution for reducing congestion, fixing traffic bottlenecks is a critical starting point," said Diane Steed, president and CEO of the American Highway Users Alliance on its website.
Los Angeles holds the dubious honor of having four of the top ten worst highway bottlenecks in the nation: the I-405 (San Diego Freeway) at I-10 Interchange, the I-10 (Santa Monica Freeway) at I-5 Interchange, and the I-405 at I-605 Interchange.
"The good news is there's hope for curing congestion on our highways," said Steed.
A project is underway on the 101-405 to widen ramps, add a carpool lane on the northbound San Diego Freeway into the valley and otherwise ease the daily commute for some 318,000 drivers. It will save more than 738 million gallons of fuel and nearly 50 minutes in time per round-trip for the average commuter, according to a report released by the American Highway Users Alliance.
Bottlenecks caused by too many cars on too little road are to blame for about half of all traffic jams. Traffic accidents, work zones, bad weather and poor signal timing account for the rest, said the report. The modest improvements to bring traffic flow to a more acceptable level will yield tremendous benefits, despite factoring in additional delays during reconstruction and annual traffic growth.
The improvements will protect drivers from an estimated 9,017 crashes, including 36 fatalities and 4,427 injuries, according to the report. There will also be reductions in emissions of carbon monoxide by 63 percent, smog-causing volatile organic compounds by 60 percent and carbon dioxide by 82 percent.
The report states that modest improvements aimed at bringing traffic flow to minimum acceptable levels at all 233 bottlenecks would, over the 20-year life of the improvement projects, reduce the amount of time commuters have to spend on the road, save thousands of lives, prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries and help us safeguard the environment.
"While there is no single solution for reducing congestion, fixing traffic bottlenecks is a critical starting point," said Diane Steed, president and CEO of the American Highway Users Alliance on its website.
Los Angeles holds the dubious honor of having four of the top ten worst highway bottlenecks in the nation: the I-405 (San Diego Freeway) at I-10 Interchange, the I-10 (Santa Monica Freeway) at I-5 Interchange, and the I-405 at I-605 Interchange.
"The good news is there's hope for curing congestion on our highways," said Steed.
