Assemblymember Levine Wants Better Options from Caltrans for 405/101 Connector Improvement Project

Sends Letter to District 7 Caltrans Director Saying Five Proposed Alternatives Pose "Serious Concerns"

Caltrans will hold a public meeting at 6 p.m. today in Encino to solicit public comments and concerns that will be studied in an environmental impact report.

The following is the full text of Assemblymember Levine’s letter:

June 14, 2006

Mr. Douglas Failing
Caltrans District 7 Director
120 South Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Dear Mr. Failing:

I have had the opportunity to review the five options proposed in your Southbound I-405 to Northbound US-101 Connector Improvement Project, I must say that I have serious concerns about certain aspects of all five plans.

The 405/101 Interchange is among the most congested not only in California, but in the nation, a fact I have stated repeatedly for the past four years. In its current state, the existing interchange provides nothing for the people of the San Fernando Valley except for the promise of traffic delays and more time away from their families. This point I’m certain we agree on, which clearly means that doing nothing is not an option.

Of the four alternatives that actually propose changes to the existing interchange, all contain serious flaws, including:

• The taking and/or impacting of homes;
  
  
• Building over or taking any amount of acreage from the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve – the jewel of the San Fernando Valley;
  
  
• Cutting off motorist access to the 101 North from Burbank Blvd., thus creating increased congestion on city streets and further limiting access to the highway system; or
  
  
• Any plan which doesn’t address 100 percent of the problem – Alternatives 2 and 3 do nothing to improve the 405 South to the 101 South connectors.
  

Of the alternatives that propose change, I believe Alternative 1 is a good start at improving safety, operation, capacity, and traffic flow through the intersection. Alternative 1 does address the interchange problem for BOTH the North and Southbound interchanges from the 405 South to the 101, a feature that is mandatory in any plan to address the interchange. 

Additionally, Alternative 1 does not require any of the precious land to be taken from the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area and surrounding wetlands. This area is a vital environmental and recreational resource for the people and the wildlife in the San Fernando Valley and it is unacceptable to take unnecessarily any portion of the area when there are viable alternatives such as your Alternative 1. However, modifications to the plan still need to be made before I can ask the people of my district to support it.

I believe it is vital that when we reconstruct the interchange and surrounding access ramps, it is imperative to maintain access from Burbank Blvd. to the North and Southbound 101. After a preliminary review of your Alternative 1, it seems that with some minor modifications, it would indeed be possible to keep that access from Burbank Blvd.

Finally, I would like to schedule a meeting at your earliest convenience to be FULLY briefed on ALL details of the four alternatives Caltrans has proposed and work through the proposed Interchange Improvement Project so that the end result brings positive changes and is something we can all support.

According to the project timeline that I’ve seen, we have an opportunity to work together in the days ahead to ensure that collectively we do all we can to design a new 405/101 interchange that we can be proud of. I believe it’s in everyone’s best interests that we do so.

Sincerely,

LLOYD E. LEVINE
California State Assemblymember

cc: Will Kempton
cc: Ronald Kosinski