Increased Safety Asked Along Road

Dear Traffic Talk:

What can be done to increase safety on a stretch of Laurel Canyon Boulevard starting just north of Mulholland Drive and ending just south of Dona Pegita Drive? The accident rate is at least one per month.

Christine Rieberger

Studio City

Dear Christine:

The city plans to widen the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Mulholland to provide an additional southbound lane for Laurel Canyon motorists. This should reduce southbound merging traffic problems and potential accidents, said Irwin L. Chodash, East Valley district engineer at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Construction should start later this year or early next year.

To increase safety in this area, workers have installed reflective raised pavement markers on striping separating the lanes. This should help motorists stay within their lanes, Chodash said.

In addition, crews placed two flashing beacons on Laurel Canyon: one about 800 feet north of Dona Dorotea Drive, the other nearly 850 feet south of the street. These devices will increase the visibility of current warning signs, which advise motorists about the speed limit and winding road ahead.

Dear Traffic Talk:

About two years ago, the city repaved Calvert Street from Tampa Avenue to Vanalden Avenue. But crews left the job half done.

Why haven’t they finished the job of repaving Calvert from Vanalden to Wilbur Avenue? When, if ever, will this get done?

Ed Kysar

Tarzana

Dear Ed:

A little more than two years ago, a project for resurfacing Calvert was discontinued due to a lack of funding, officials said.

Calvert, between Vanalden and Wilbur, is scheduled to be resurfaced between July and June 2002, said Robert Reed, a spokesman at the city Department of Public Works.

To learn which streets have been scheduled for resurfacing, log on to the city’s Web site at https://www.lacity.org. Click on Departments, Commissions and Committees, and then on Street Services Bureau.

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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. Fax letters to (818) 772-3385. E-mail questions to valley.news@latimes.com.