Caltrans Denies 3 Projects, Approves 1 : Transportation: The only work to be OKd, widening the Antelope Valley Freeway, is scaled back by one-third.

Despite a strong lobbying effort by Los Angeles and Ventura county officials and a politically connected developer, the California Transportation Commission on Thursday declined to approve widening a 12-mile stretch of the Simi Valley Freeway in the San Fernando Valley.

However, commissioners left open the possibility that they would authorize the project later this year.

Also left in limbo as the commission approved $5.4 billion in transportation improvements were two other Valley-area projects: widening California 126 from the Golden State Freeway to the Ventura County line, and installing computerized signals in the Ventura Boulevard-Victory Boulevard corridor across the south Valley.

In addition, the lone Valley-area freeway project that won approval Thursday--widening the Antelope Valley Freeway from San Fernando Road to Escondido Summit near Acton--was scaled back by nearly one third.

The commissioners, who are appointed by the governor, met in Sacramento to parcel out the initial proceeds from the higher gasoline tax and rail bond measures approved by California voters June 5.

Despite the setbacks, Los Angeles-area transportation officials expressed confidence that all of the Valley projects would ultimately be funded by the state or would be built with local money.

The commission on Thursday backed away from financing the widening of the Simi Valley Freeway and California 126 after having signaled a willingness to do so on Wednesday.

To their dismay, local officials were told to renew their requests for the two projects in a month or two, when commissioners would consider amendments to the seven-year highway and rail spending plan approved Thursday.

“We thought we had a deal put together Wednesday night” for both projects, said Linda Bohlinger, director of capital planning for the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

“But commissioners told us Thursday morning they did not want to send out the message that action on something like this can be taken overnight. We were told to put our request in writing from the LACTC and it will be taken up, probably in November or December.”

Unaffected by the state commission’s decision Thursday is a $12-million project to widen the Simi Valley Freeway to eight lanes from Balboa Boulevard to Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

That project, approved by the commission in 1988, “is still set for completion in 1992-93. I see no reason to be concerned about that,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Commission and a non-voting member of the state transportation commission.

At issue Thursday was whether to widen the freeway to a uniform 10 lanes from the Golden State Freeway to the Ventura County line, at a cost of $27.2 million.

Widening the freeway has taken on added urgency with Los Angeles City Council approval in June of the massive Porter Ranch development immediately north of the freeway in Chatsworth.

The project’s 3,400 housing units and 6 million square feet of commercial space are expected to empty thousands of additional motorists onto the already-congested freeway.

Porter Ranch spokesman Paul Clarke confirmed Thursday that he and developer Nathan Shapell, a politically influential developer who is a confidant of top state officials, have been lobbying state transportation commissioners in behalf of the freeway widening.

“I’ve made some calls to commissioners I know and I’m certain Mr. Shapell has also been on the phone,” Clarke said.

Ventura County elected officials also joined in, hoping to head off creation of a six-lane traffic bottleneck between the Ventura County line and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

That will occur if Ventura County voters in November approve an extra half-cent sales tax to finance a package of transportation projects, including widening the freeway to eight lanes from the Los Angeles County line west to Tapo Canyon Road in Simi Valley.

“We’ve been lobbying side by side with Los Angeles County officials on this,” said Simi Valley City Councilwoman Vicky Howard, a member of the Ventura County Transportation Commission, “because we expect our widening on our side of the line to be approved. We certainly hope Los Angeles can do its project at the same time as ours.”

The Antelope Valley Freeway widening approved Thursday will be a $42-million project and should be completed by 1995, county officials say.

The freeway, which is increasingly congested with commuters who have recently moved to the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, will be expanded to eight lanes from San Fernando Road to Sand Canyon Road, and widened to six lanes from there to Escondido Summit.

County officials had wanted to widen it to eight lanes all the way to Escondido Summit, which would have cost an estimated $60 million, Bohlinger said.