Kanan interchange still isn't right

I have tried to remain optimistic that the final fixes on the new interchange alluded to by the Agoura Hills assistant city manager in his May website (www.kananroad.org) Q&A session, such as the green arrow for the eastbound onramp to the 101, would actually work. Unfortunately, this isn't the case.

The southbound Kanan Road traffic heading to the eastbound 101 has routinely been backing up to Hillrise every weekday morning, and it's going to get a lot worse when people are back from vacation and schools are in session.

One doesn't have to be a traffic engineer to figure out that when you go from the previous two eastbound onramp entry lanes to the current one, traffic flow is not going to improve, even with no left turns and a longer green light. In fact, traffic is going to get worse.

The assistant city manager alludes to the fact that it would have been expensive to acquire enough land to build two lanes, the implication being that was the right way to do it. The funny thing is, I don't remember any of our elected city officials telling the citizens of Agoura Hills that they made a significant compromise on the capacity of the interchange in order to save money. All I remember is hearing is how great it was going to be, which made it worth waiting for all these years.

There's a picture on the website of our elected officials breaking ground with shovels. Unfortunately, now that the inherent design problems with our eagerly awaited interchange have become apparent, these same officials appear to have headed for the proverbial hills, leaving the assistant city manager to take the flak.

To be fair, there is a lot of good about the interchange. The westbound offramp is great, and it's a relief not to have to play "chicken" to turn onto Roadside, but the biggest problem has been made worse. Southbound traffic was actually better during construction than it is now.

This is something that the Agoura Hills and Oak Park citizens are going to have to live with for many years. Accordingly, if our elected officials are not willing to break their deafening silence, explain their previous decisions and discuss what they propose to do about it, then it's time for the Agoura Hills voters to bring in a government that will. Peter Steinman Agoura Hills