Council aims to curb traffic

BURBANK — Hoping to ease congestion on Burbank’s freeways and streets, the City Council convened a joint session with three traffic committees, where details of the city’s traffic crunch and ideas to alleviate the rush were deliberated Tuesday at Buena Vista Library.

The meeting was held at the library to accommodate the nearly 30 members from the council, Traffic and Transportation Committee, Transportation Commission and Transit Services Task Force, as well as members of the public and city staff.

Burbank’s traffic problems emanate from a combination of driving alone, regional thoroughfares, commercial zones and the variance of vehicles associated with regional growth, said Greg Hermann, chief assistant community development director.

More than 70% of commuters drive alone to work, dwarfing the 10% that carpool and about 5% that use public transit, while overflow traffic from the Golden State (5) Freeway crawls along Glenoaks Boulevard during rush hour, he said.

Shopping centers, such as Costco and IKEA, have contributed to rush hour, as have large trucks driving through Burbank’s streets, Traffic Engineer Ken Johnson said.

“Truck traffic is a growing trend as the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to grow as they serve the western portion of the United States,” he said.

To help mitigate the effects of increased future traffic, Councilman David Gordon proposed limiting the development of commercial and business projects.

“Development has its benefits . . . but in increasing projects in Burbank, we need to be very careful,” he said.

“Should [Bob Hope] Airport expand, there will be tremendous traffic impacts. We need to take a long-term look because at the bottom of this is how it impacts the people of this city. We don’t need to put up walls around the city, but we need to be very vigilant in protecting what’s good here.”

To meet the demands of the region, where by 2030 more than 15 million people are projected to live in Southern California, and where travel time is expected to double during peak hours, the council and committees considered several options.

Paul Dyson, a member of the city’s Transportation Commission, called for an increase in public transportation.