Let's begin this week's soiree in the Sepulveda Pass, the scene of so much motoring misery on the 405 Freeway.
The southbound stretch has had a carpool lane since 2002 -- giving an edge to altruistic commuters heading from the San Fernando Valley to the Westside or beyond.
The northbound side, however, lacks a carpool lane, making the afternoon commute one big scrum for those returning to the Valley. If I had to make that drive every day, I'm pretty sure I would get home one day and chain-saw my car in half. But that's just me.
Area politicians in 2005 made a big to-do about rounding up money for the northbound carpool lane, and Caltrans last month finally announced details of the $950-million project.
The Sage's favorite part of this project is that for all the money and work and traffic, one of the primary flaws of the 405 will not be fixed. There are five southbound lanes that climb the pass from the Valley. At the top, just beyond the Mulholland Drive overpass, those five lanes squeeze down to four lanes, creating a classic choke point.
"How can you say you're fixing the pass when you're not even solving the problem?" asks Wayne Williams, a member of the board of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. .
The problem, in a nutshell, is that any plan to widen the 405 would require Caltrans to acquire and tear down homes.
The current plan requires two in Sherman Oaks to be removed and another four to lose some of their yards and be vacated. An earlier version of the plan, which was roundly opposed, would have taken 40 homes in the Brentwood area.
In essence, Caltrans had to decide between adding the northbound carpool lane or a southbound general purpose lane. The carpool lane won and the bet here is that one day it will probably be a toll lane, given the rate at which carpool lanes are filling up.
Construction is expected to begin in spring of next year and take four years to complete. Bon appetit!
Justice for Jane
Just as the Jane Chronicles began, they have ended.
Attentive readers will recall last Monday's tale, in which Jane was ticketed for an expired meter in one city, though she says she and her vehicle were more than 100 miles away in the burg where she lives.
Now comes word from the city of Los Angeles that Jane is correct. The city -- in an unusually quick display of doing the right thing -- waived her ticket and effectively conceded that Jane was in Santa Barbara on the day her car was allegedly parked illegally on an industrial stretch of Pico Boulevard near downtown.
