New 101-405 freeway interchange could reduce traffic -- and wildlife
-- in the area
Environmentalists are opposing proposals for a new connector that
would be built within the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve. Caltrans
is expected to decide on the proposals by the end of June.

By Jennifer Oldham <jennifer.oldham@latimes.com>
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 26, 2008

Expanding one of the nation's busiest freeway interchanges won't make
life easier for some weary commuters.

A new ramp proposed for the 101-405 interchange in Sherman Oaks would
destroy part of a wildlife reserve in the Sepulveda Basin that
provides a rare resting place for migrating Canada geese,
environmentalists say.

"We've trained the geese to come here for 20 years and forage in
grasses we planted," said Steve Hartman, a volunteer with the
California Native Plant Society. "Are they going to come one year and
it will be a dirt construction site?"

The project pits one of the San Fernando Valley's last swaths of
undisturbed open space against traffic improvements designed to ease
congestion on one of the most crowded freeway interchanges in the
nation.

The connector is ranked among the state's most dangerous and delay-
prone interchanges, routinely carrying more vehicles than it was
designed to handle and often causing bottlenecks on the southbound San
Diego Freeway. The exit from the southbound San Diego Freeway to the
northbound Ventura Freeway (which actually runs west) is used by about
25,000 vehicles each day.

But several multimillion-dollar proposals to redesign the interchange
call for building a new ramp in the southeast corner of a 225-acre
wildlife reserve that Los Angeles city officials and environmentalists
have spent decades turning into a haven for native plants and more
than 200 varieties of birds.

The Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve, bisected by a creek lined with
large cottonwoods, contains a small lake and grasslands, considered
some of the Valley's best hunting grounds for birds of prey. Oaks,
fruit-bearing bushes and other plant life are just now maturing,
attracting birds that haven't visited the region in years,
ornithologists say.

"We've put 30 years of work and sweat into it," said Kris Ohlenkamp,
who has spent decades rehabilitating the reserve and estimates he has
taken thousands of children on walks there. "This wildlife area is
part of the San Fernando Valley's culture. It's part of everyone's
lives here."

But transportation experts argue that the connector must be reworked
to ease traffic headaches and to ensure that the interchange can
handle future increases.

"This is one of the busier connectors we have in the entire country,"
said Aziz Elattar, office chief of Caltrans' environmental planning
division. "Everyone involved in transportation agrees it's an
important project."

The California Department of Transportation has been studying how to
rework the interchange for years. But a final decision is near, with
public comments due by Wednesday on a 288-page environmental
assessment that analyzes four options, including doing nothing. The
agency plans to choose by the end of June.

The existing single-lane connector ramp requires drivers to weave in
and out of lanes to access various roads. All three proposals call for
replacing that interchange with a two-lane overpass designed to
increase traffic speeds from 20 to 50 mph. That bridge would be built
over a spillway that's part of the Sepulveda Dam.

One of the proposals would eliminate access to the Ventura Freeway
from Burbank Boulevard and wouldn't require construction on the
wildlife reserve. The other two call for restructuring access to both
freeways from Burbank Boulevard by building a looped ramp on several
acres in the reserve's southeast corner. The proposals range in price
from $86 million to $117 million. Funding hasn't been approved.

Caltrans studies suggest construction would not cause long-term damage
to the wildlife reserve.

"Although there may be temporary disruptions or impacts during the
construction phase, there are not anticipated to be any permanent
direct or indirect impacts to these species resulting from this
project," Caltrans analysts wrote.

Environmentalists disagree, saying increased noise from a new ramp in
the reserve would disturb sensitive birds and could diminish the
habitat's draw for birders who routinely record the comings and goings
of many species and for students who travel to the dam to learn about
nature.

"The big problem is the cumulative loss of acreage," said Kimball
Garrett, ornithology collections manager at the Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County.

"There's very good data that show as you whittle away the acreage of
habitat, it becomes able to support a lot less wildlife," Garrett
said.

An official at the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks,
which manages the Sepulveda Basin, said he was concerned about the
project.

"Many volunteers, the city and the U.S. Army Corps have worked for
many years to develop the wildlife area," said Kevin Regan, the
department's assistant general manager. "It would be a difficult thing
to have any damage, or destruction, or loss of that open space."