Woodland Hills : Valley Circle Project Faces Another Delay

The long-awaited opening of the renovated Valley Circle interchange has been delayed yet again for about three weeks, Caltrans officials said Friday.

Caltrans, which had hoped to open it earlier this week, had planned to install temporary overhead lines to traffic signals, said Rick Holland, a Caltrans spokesman. However, the agency scrapped the plan, Holland said, after the city’s Department of Water and Power informed Caltrans that it planned to speed up its schedule for the installation of permanent underground power lines.

The $10-million project was designed to improve traffic flow from Calabasas to the Los Angeles side of the Ventura Freeway. Construction, which began in January, 1994, has forced detours and traffic bottlenecks in the surrounding neighborhood.

Calabasas officials say they have been getting phone calls from angry motorists who want to know when it will open. Holland apologized for the delays.

The renovation includes a new, six-lane bridge over the Ventura Freeway to replace an old four-lane bridge and redesigned westbound freeway on- and off-ramps. One portion of the project, an eastbound on-ramp to Los Angeles from Old Town Calabasas, will be completed early next year, after the old bridge is taken down, officials said.