Agoura Hills reveals timetable for Kanan
Road improvements
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

Agoura Hills’ officials announced last week that help is on the way for the Kanan Road/101 Freeway interchange.

But don’t get too revved up, final improvements on the ramps and the crowded overpass won’t be completed until late 2003.

"This is the best we can do," said City Councilman Dan Kuperberg. "But we are fixing the problem."

The interchange has been a thorn in the city’s side for over a decade. Caltrans issues actual letter grades for its freeway junctions and the latest score on Kanan Road is an unqualified "F."

The maddening delays getting on and off the freeway will continue for now, but the city wants drivers to know that the wheels of change at least are in motion.

When Public Works Director Jim Thorsen appeared before the council to give an update on the project, he stacked almost six inches of reports, notes and studies on the table in front of him.

The main project report, which has undergone three reviews, is expected to receive Caltrans’ approval next month. Environmental documentation should be finished in November, but Thorsen said it would still take another year of preparations before construction actually begins.

The changes don’t include a widening of the overpass. Plans instead call for construction of a loop ramp to be used by motorists heading south on Kanan and then east toward Los Angeles. Drivers coming from Los Angeles and exiting north at Kanan will have a much wider off ramp that leads to a new intersection on Canwood Street, which will accommodate all traffic entering and leaving the freeway on the north side.

With new loops on both sides of the freeway, no left turns will be necessary, a configuration that should improve traffic in all directions.

"I think the main problem today is that we have left turns all over the place and it’s like bumper cars out there," said Mayor Ed Corridori.

Still unknown is the project’s exact cost.

Road and ramp construction, right-of-way acquisition and support costs were estimated to be $21.5 million in 1999. But Thorsen said that figure could explode to $28.3 million under a "worst case" scenario.

"A very expensive project, any way you look at it," Thorsen said.

A grant from the Metropolitan Transit Authority will pay $10.8 million. Despite developer fees and other funds that have been earmarked, the city could still owe as much as $13.7 million. Councilmembers Denis Weber and Louise Rishoff of the Finance Committee will look at whether to use general fund reserves, a bond measure or other monies to complete the project.

"I’m glad to see a little more finality to this," Weber said. "I can’t wait to see this thing come to fruition."

The new interchange will cut off Roadside Drive, west of Kanan Road.

"We do have substantial concerns about the closure of Roadside," said Jack Dwyer, a representative for Kanan Properties, owners of Kanan Village Shopping Center. "We think it’s probably a done deal."

Dwyer said the shopping center receives 30 percent of its business traffic from Roadside Drive.

The interchange construction is slated to begin at the end of 2002.

Will the improvements result in a passing grade?

Yes, Thorsen said, but probably only a "D" or a "C."