Private Toll Highway Linking California 126 With 118 Is Proposed : Transportation: The road, which would ease traffic in Simi Valley, is one of eight proposals Caltrans has received. Up to four will be selected by Sept. 14.

A Santa Ana company on Wednesday submitted a proposal to Caltrans to build and operate a private toll highway in Ventura County that would link California routes 126 and 118 through Simi Valley.

If Caltrans approves, Enserch Development Corp. would build the highway beginning at California 126 a mile east of the Los Angeles County line, crossing Tapo Canyon Road and ultimately intersecting California 118 in Simi Valley, said Jack Mowreaber, a company spokesman. The private road would ease congestion in Simi Valley and the area surrounding it, said Don Herz, regional manager of the Enserch subsidiary EBASCO, which submitted the proposal.

Herz said the highway would allow heavy trucks to avoid Simi Valley streets, would allow San Fernando Valley-bound commuters to avoid driving along treacherous canyon roads and would allow motorists southbound on the Golden State Freeway to reach Simi Valley without doubling back at the intersection of the Golden State and California 118.

Enserch executives were tight-lipped Wednesday about the project. They refused to discuss how much they would charge motorists to drive along the road if it is built.

Enserch’s proposal is one of eight transportation projects statewide that private companies proposed to Caltrans on Wednesday as part of a pilot program.

The program was established by Assembly Bill 680, passed in 1989 to encourage private development of public transportation projects. The bill allows Caltrans to select up to four of the projects, which it expects to do by Sept. 14.

“A need was seen . . . by our companies and the surrounding landowners” for a north-south highway linking California routes 126 and 118, Herz said. “Discussions went ahead with the owners of the properties which the road might run through and a proposal was submitted.”

Simi Valley traffic engineer Bill Golubics said members of the city Transportation Planning Board have expressed interest in having a north-south route connecting the two routes. Such a road would improve circulation on the increasingly congested roads through and around the city, he said.

Golubics said such a road also would provide an alternate escape from the city if an earthquake or brush fire blocked California 118 at either end of Simi Valley.

But will the public accept the idea of paying cash to use a highway?

“I think the jury’s out on that one,” Golubics said. “We’ve always depended on public agencies to provide transportation systems free of charge. . . . We just haven’t had any experience with toll roads in the state that I’m aware of.”

A panel of Caltrans officials and a member of the public will review all the proposals before selecting up to four of them. At least one must be in Northern California, and one in Southern California.

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