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CITY OF MOORPARI'a�y: --�-
AGENDA REPORT
TO: The Honorable City Council
FROM: Kenneth C. Gilbert, Director of Public Works
DATE: May 8, 2001 (Council Meeting 5- 16 -01)
SUBJECT: Route 23 Freeway Traffic Congestion
DISCUSSION
A. Background
There is an approved Caltrans project for the addition of a
third lane in each direction, on the Route 23 freeway between
Route 101 and New Los Angeles Avenue.
At a previous City Council meeting there was some discussion of
the possible need and necessity of revising the project to call
for four lanes in each direction. At the May 2nd City Council
meeting, it was requested that this matter be placed on a future
City Council agenda for discussion.
B. Project Scope
The project, as currently defined, calls for the addition of
one lane in each direction, to be placed in the center of the
existing freeway between the northbound and the southbound
lanes. These additional lanes will require the widening of the
bridges at all or most of the cross streets and interchanges.
Other improvements required to make the project compatible with
existing standards and traffic demands, includes the
construction of sound walls and the installation of traffic
signals at some of the interchanges.
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Route 23 Freeway
May 8, 2001
Page 2
C. Project Status
The environmental document for the project has been completed.
The scope of the project assessed in that document provided for
the addition of only one lane in each direction. A change in
the scope of the project to add a fourth lane in each direction
would require the crafting of a new environmental document.
That effort would cause the project schedule to slip. In
addition, if a fourth lane in each direction was determined to
be growth inducing, the complexity, cost and approval
requirements for the environmental document would also
increase.
A value analysis was recently completed to determine the most
cost effect scope of work for the project. That analysis
concluded that only one lane in each direction was necessary.
The project, as currently scoped, is totally funded in the
amount of $39 million. Any change to the scope of the project
which would increase costs, could cause delays until additional
funding could be obtained.
Design efforts are approximately twenty percent (20 %) complete
and are ongoing. Current efforts include working with a number
of property owners in the City of Thousand Oaks regarding the
construction of sound walls.
There is some discussion of possibly building the bridge
abutments wider so that it would be easier and less expensive to
add bridge deck width at a future date to accommodate four lanes
in each direction. This option may or may not be physically
possible. Also, the existing bridge structures are approximately
thirty (30) years old, and it may not be a wise decision to plan
for the future widening of a bridge which will be at or near its
projected fifty year (50) life -span.
The current schedule calls for construction to start in the
third quarter of 2003.
D. Project Development Team (PDT) Meetings
Caltrans hosts monthly Project Development Team (PDT) meetings
to discuss the design progress. Both Caltrans staff and other
interested parties are invited to attend these meetings.
On Tuesday, May 1, Councilmember Millhouse and myself attended
a PDT meeting at the Thousand Oaks City Hall. The meeting was
linked to the Caltrans office in Los Angeles via video
conference. Many of the points set forth in this report were
discussed at that meeting.
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Route 23 Freeway
May 8, 2001
Page 3
E. Route 118 Freeway Widening
There are plans for the future widening of the Route 118
freeway from the Sata Susana Grade to Collins Drive. When both
this future project and the subject Freeway 23 project are
constructed, that portion of the freeway between Collins Drive
and New Los Angeles Avenue will remain two (2) lanes in each
direction.
F. Route 101 Deficiencies
Staff has been advised by Caltrans that the addition of a
fourth lane in each direction on the Route 23 freeway,
especially for southbound, would do little to improve traffic
congestion, due to the inadequate number of lanes on the Route
101 freeway east and west of the 23/101 interchange.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Direct staff as deemed appropriate.
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