Mulholland, Las Virgenes improvements coming

Safety for cars, cyclists and pedestrians emphasized



BACKUP—Among the changes, Las Virgenes Road will be widened between Agoura and Lost Hills roads.

BACKUP—Among the changes, Las Virgenes Road will be widened between Agoura and Lost Hills roads.

About 200 people attended two different workshops hosted by the City of Calabasas Feb. 25 to get a glimpse of what’s in store for road improvements slated for the Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway corridors.

Both projects are scheduled to start this summer, when classes at A.E. Wright and A.C Stelle middle schools and Calabasas High School are out of session. The work will last six to eight months.

The workshop pertaining to improvements on Mulholland Highway took place in the Gelson’s shopping center community room from 6 to 7 p.m., and the presentation on the Las Virgenes Road scenic corridor widening project followed in the community room at de Anza Park from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Attendees were primarily concerned about safety, and they wanted to make sure the proposed improvements would not affect traffic flow or encourage more development along the Las Virgenes or Mulholland thoroughfares.

The combined projects will cost about $4.5 million. A third of the money will be paid for with developer fees, and the city will use Measure R-Highway Operational Improvement Funds provided by L.A. County to cover its share of the costs.

Mulholland improvements

Mulholland Highway is divided into two zones. Zone 1, between Old Topanga Canyon Road and Paul Revere Drive, is primarily bordered by residential communities, and includes Calabasas High and A.C. Stelle Middle schools.

Zone 2, between Paul Revere and Mulholland drives in Los Angeles, borders a significant amount of commercial development.

The city recently completed work in Zone 1, and officials are now preparing to start improvements in Zone 2.

To slow traffic and provide refuge islands for pedestrians, the city will install a wide landscaped median. This will create narrower traffic lanes.

Drop-off and pickup areas near schools will be separated from through traffic by landscaped medians, and intersection bulb-outs will be installed to provide safer crossings for students.

“The critical concerns are pedestrian safety and crossings,” said Robert Yalda, city engineer for Calabasas.

A push-button flashing light system may be installed on the pavement at the intersection of Freedom Drive and Mulholland Highway.

To improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians, the city will fill a gap in the sidewalk on the north side of Mulholland Highway, across from Gelson’s, and add landscaping to asphalt shoulders that are sometimes used illegally as passing lanes.

Retaining walls will be built to stabilize a hillside across from Gelson’s Market. The project will also require removal of a portion of a hill to open the road by 15 feet.

Las Virgenes improvements

The city will expand Las Virgenes Road to create two travel lanes in both directions between Agoura and Lost Hills roads.

Continuous 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes and turning lanes will be provided at all driveway and roadway intersections to ease traffi c flow on Las Virgenes Road.

Gaps in a sidewalk on the west side of Las Virgenes will be filled to make sure pedestrians have a continuous walkway between Agoura and Lost Hills roads. The east side will also have a sidewalk between Agoura Road and the Oak Glen Street intersection.

The city plans to install two new traffic signals at Willow Glen Street near the Stone Creek community and Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, and at Oak Glen Street in anticipation of the new Entrada residential development.

The new signals will create gaps in traffic and provide safer access to driveways south of the intersection, officials said.

Crosswalks will be installed at all signalized intersections to provide safe crossing for pedes- trians going to and from the Las Virgenes dog park, A.E. Wright Middle School and other destinations.

The project on Las Virgenes Road will require the city to obtain easements on some private properties below Las Virgenes Road just north of La Paz restaurant so the road can be aligned.

The city is talking with the affected private property owners, Yalda said.

West side resident Alan Horowitz said the city is doing a good job maintaining local roads and keeping the area beautiful.

The workshop at de Anza allowed residents to share their concerns and ask questions about Las Virgenes Road, which is a gateway to the ocean.

“I’m glad that they had the meeting out here rather than City Hall,” Horowitz said.

Some attendees were concerned that widening the road could spur more development along Las Virgenes Road.

“That concerns me,” longtime west side resident Joanne Suwara said.

Several people said the proposed road widening on Las Virgenes will not really solve traffic problems because bottlenecks will still occur at the southbound on-ramp of the 101 Freeway and approaching the Lost Hills intersection, where the road narrows to one lane as it heads south toward Malibu.

To reduce speeding, one attendee suggested the speed limit on Las Virgenes Road be reduced to 35 mph.

The city used an automated calling system to invite residents to the recent workshops.

“It was great to see so much involvement and residents come out,” said Mayor Pro Tem David Shapiro.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *