Bradley Gives Green Light to Ventura Blvd. Signal System

Mayor Tom Bradley proposed a 1988-89 budget Tuesday that includes $3 million to complete the installation of a computerized system of traffic lights on the San Fernando Valley’s busiest street.

The high-tech signal system, successfully introduced by the city during the 1984 Olympics to guide traffic near the Coliseum, is already being installed along Ventura Boulevard between Wilbur Avenue in Reseda and Valley Circle Boulevard in Woodland Hills at a cost of about $1 million.

That portion of the system is expected to be working by mid-July, said S. Edwin Rowe, acting general manager of the city Department of Transportation.

Freeway Widening

The system was not scheduled to be installed along the rest of Ventura Boulevard until the early 1990s. But Bradley said in his budget message that he was providing funds to complete the project by July, 1989, to improve traffic flow during widening of the Ventura Freeway. Additional traffic is expected to spill onto Ventura Boulevard during the four-year freeway project.

The system is called ATSAC for Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control System. It uses a computer to monitor traffic through major intersections and automatically times green and red lights.

Sensors embedded in the streets send information about traffic to the computer over telephone lines. The system can increase the capacity of a street by 10%, reducing delays by as much as 20%, Rowe said.

The system also is being installed in downtown Los Angeles. Systems are planned in Hollywood, Westwood and in the Los Angeles International Airport area.

Tax Funds

The city’s share of the 18-cents-a-gallon federal and state gasoline taxes is paying for the portion of the project already under way and would pay for the additional work Bradley has proposed.

Bradley’s budget, which now goes to the City Council for approval, also includes $2.7 million for construction of an indoor swimming pool at Cleveland High School in Reseda and $1.6 million for construction of a community building at Paxton Recreation Center in Pacoima.

Funds also are included for several local arts programs, including the Back Alley Theatre in Van Nuys, $7,000; the Valley Cultural Center, $5,000; the San Fernando Valley Symphony Assn. and the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center, $2,500 each.

Funds also are provided for festivals and parades, such as the Pacoima Christmas Parade, $3,500, and the Mission Hills Community Festival, $2,000.