Trucks Get a Lane to Climb Simi Valley Pass : Freeways: To prevent tie-ups from 2,450 slow rigs a day, Ventura and Los Angeles county officials dedicate a $1.3-million widening of the westbound California 118.

Saying it will significantly reduce traffic congestion on the westbound Simi Valley Freeway, officials from Ventura and Los Angeles counties on Monday dedicated a two-mile climbing lane for trucks from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the top of Santa Susana Pass.

Don Duncan, a Caltrans spokesman, said the three-lane freeway at Santa Susana Pass now accommodates about 52,000 vehicle trips a day.

Duncan said the number of trucks using this section of the freeway increased from 1,460 in 1984 to 2,450 in 1988.

The climbing lane, which ends at Rocky Peak Road in Ventura County, was built at the steepest portion of the freeway where major traffic jams result when trucks are forced to slow to nearly a stop.

The $1.3-million freeway-improvement project began construction in October. It was built with state transportation funds that were supplemented by a $200,000 contribution from Simi Valley and a $10,000 contribution from Moorpark.

“The critical reason why this project was able to go forward is because the cities of Moorpark and Simi Valley contributed their local dollars to provide a match for state funds,” said Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

Gherardi said the contributions represent a growing trend among government agencies, which are willing to help pay for projects to give them a better chance of being undertaken by the state.

Gherardi was among several officials who participated in Monday’s dedication ceremony held on the Rocky Peak Road overpass in Ventura County.

Also attending were Sheila Holt, representing state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita); Mike Murphy, representing Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley); Leeta Pistone, representing Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich; Moorpark City Councilwoman Eloise Brown; Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton and Simi Valley council members Bill Davis and Vicky Howard.

“With the addition of the new climbing lane, I think we’re going to find that hundreds of thousands of motorists are going to come home a little less irritable because they are not going to have to go through this bottleneck,” said Howard, who chairs the Ventura County-San Fernando Valley Freeway Improvement Committee that has worked for the past three years to get the auxiliary lane built.

Howard said her group is working to get a similar climbing lane for trucks on the eastbound portion of the freeway leading to the pass, which--even though it is not as steep as the westbound side--handles just as much traffic.