Metro Board Member Ara Najarian joins other officials for the Agoura Road Widening Project groundbreaking. Photo: Paul Gonzales/Metro
This morning, Metro Board Member Ara Najarian joined other officials at the City of Agoura Hills to break ground on the Agoura Road Widening Project. The $24.5-million project will improve mobility and enhance safety on a vital artery in the city. The project is fully funded by Measure R and, when completed, will widen the existing alignment, add a bicycle lane in each direction, sidewalks and landscape.
Categories: Projects
Yay! More cars!!
Now, while I understand the utility of an alternate to US-101, won’t the widened road simply clog with traffic as motorists attempt to bypass the 101 congestion? (See Induced Demand.)
Secondly, while adding bike lanes is a nice gesture, adding bike lanes while widening the road (and presumably increasing traffic volume) is counterproductive and may actually make the bike lanes less safe. If the road widening project was merely adding bike lanes and sidewalks, with full separation (since 45+ MPH traffic is a little too fast to be passing ~4 feet away from bikes, as the recent death of a cyclist to a distracted Sheriff’s deputy proved) it would be another story.
Totally agree. We need a moratorium on widening roads.
I completely agree. I live right off of Agoura Rd. and am disgusted by the fact that as I speak they’re gearing up to tear into the hillsides to turn Agoura Road into yet another highway. They won’t stop until the Conejo Valley becomes an extension of the San Fernando Valley.
This is Agoura Hills we’re talking about here – the vast majority of the people there are in favor of road widenings for their precious cars. They could care less about cyclists, or even pedestrians. You can barely get a road diet done in the dense, urban areas of LA, including downtown (thankfully they’re allowing Broadway to go through, albeit on a more temporary/trial basis for now). So unfortunately, until enough citizens out there actually encourage their elected officials otherwise, you’re going to see a lot more projects like this throughout the Valley and more suburban areas of the county.