Local roadways getting safer, smoother

The 101 Freeway between Mulholland/Valley Circle Boulevard and Lost Hills Road in Calabasas is getting a facelift.

The project involves the removal of pavement striping and concrete slab work on different parts of the freeway, especially around the Calabasas freeway exits. 

The pavement rehabilitation project won’t be completed until June 2002, but already motorists are noticing a smoother ride, thanks to new blacktop. The work began July 16.

The contractor on the $10 million Cal Trans project is Pave-Tec Inc. of Carlsbad.

The work will occur 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and resume at 7 p.m. and continue until 7 a.m. On weekends workers will pour concrete and perform other construction. Various lanes and on-and-off-ramps will be closed while work is underway.

Within the city of Calabasas, widening has begun on the Agoura Road bridge over Las Virgenes Creek. It will be widened from two to four lanes when the construction, which began last month, is completed in February 2002.

Developer fees and government funds are being used to pay for the $2 million bridge project, which is part of the Las Virgenes Gateway Master Plan the city adopted in 1998. The area is getting a new shopping center, including an Albertson’s supermarket.

  The city’s six roundabouts, which were installed last year, are getting makeovers, too.

Robert Yalda, the city’s traffic and transportation director, said the roundabouts require motorists to yield before entering every loop, but because of incorrect driver behavior so far, workers must install stop signs at two of the four entry points on each roundabout.

The city will install the first stop signs at the Liberty Bell/Paul Revere roundabout in Mulwood as part of a three-month pilot program to see if the changes help.

In addition, the roundabouts will receive painted crosswalk striping to allow for safer pedestrian crossings at all points. Each roundabout crosswalk will be fully equipped with wheelchair ramps and landscaping will be upgraded to improve visibility.

The city also will install a roundabout and speed humps in the Deer Springs neighborhood. Residents fear the new Canyon View Office Park on Malibu Hills Road will send unwanted traffic through Deer Springs.

A roundabout and medians will be built on Calabasas Hills Road and speed humps will be built at Lost Springs Drive and Cold Springs Street.

Agoura Hills will continue to make its streets more presentable.

The city will spend $464,000 making improvements to 26 streets throughout the city, starting Aug. 13. Workers hope to repave Driver Avenue in front of Agoura High School before students return to class.

The project will resurface seven miles of city streets using a rubberized asphalt compound containing more than 10,000 recycled tires. Now in its fourth year, the Agoura Hills street improvement campaign has used over 100,000 recycled tires.

"This is good. It means that those are tires won’t have to go to the landfill," said City Councilwoman Louise Rishoff.

Agoura Hills Public Works Director Jim Thorsen said the roadwork will take about a month-and-half.