No-Right-Turn Signs Rile Area Resident

Dear Traffic Talk:

I feel that the no-right-turn signs posted at the corners of Plummer Street at Shoup and Farralone avenues are unfair to the residents living north of Plummer and west of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. I received a citation for turning right there.

The police officer told me that I should go out to Topanga Canyon and turn onto Plummer westbound.

He also told me I could turn left at Plummer off Baden Avenue and go down to Shoup and make a U-turn.

I think that if accident prevention is a consideration, right turns generate far fewer wrecks than left or U-turns.

The no-right-turn signs were posted a few years ago to keep commuters from cutting through the neighborhood on their way to Rocketdyne. But since Rocketdyne is no longer an issue, the only people using this route are residents.

To ask residents to go at least two miles out of the way, make hazardous left and U-turns, add more traffic to an already crowded street and more pollution to the environment is ludicrous.

These signs were obviously placed with no interest in the general safety and welfare of the public.

I am a law-abiding person and I have not had a citation since I was a teenager.

Corrine Pyle

Chatsworth

Dear Corrine:

The no-right-turn restriction in your area was instituted in 1992 as a result of a petition signed by 500 neighborhood residents, according to authorities.

The signs may be taken down through a second petition, said Ray Wellbaum, a spokesman for the city Department of Transportation.

Presently, right turns are not permitted daily from 6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. in the area marked by Plummer to the south, Devonshire Street to the north, Topanga Canyon to the east and Baden--which blends into Valley Circle Boulevard--to the west.

The residents who signed the petition were concerned about heavy commuter traffic rushing through the neighborhood--particularly around Plummer and Baden, Wellbaum said.

The department restricted right turns in a bigger area because it did not want to move the problem from one street to the next, Wellbaum said. The action was taken in conjunction with steps to increase the capacity on main thoroughfares nearby.

The restriction can be rescinded through another petition signed by a majority of property owners in the neighborhood, Wellbaum said.

A petition should be sent to the area’s City Councilman Hal Bernson for processing.

Dear Traffic Talk:

We have watched the seemingly complete car-pool lane on the 118 Freeway through the San Fernando Valley sit unopened for months. I can only guess that waiting for construction farther west is the holdup.

Heidi Urbina

Studio City

Dear Heidi:

Caltrans is putting the finishing touches on a four-mile stretch of the high-occupancy-vehicle lane on the westbound 118 Freeway from Tampa Avenue to the Ventura County line.

The lane is scheduled to open by early February--providing weather conditions don’t halt the remaining work, said Pat Reid, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Traffic Talk appears Fridays in The Times Valley Edition. Readers may submit comments and questions about traffic in the Valley to Traffic Talk, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted. To record your comments, call (818) 772-3303. Fax letters to (818) 772-3385. E-mail questions to [email protected]