SIMI VALLEY : Panels OK Plan to Widen Simi Freeway

Transportation commissions in Sacramento and Los Angeles on Wednesday approved a complex agreement under which the Simi Valley Freeway will be widened to 10 lanes across much of the San Fernando Valley.

Construction on the heavily congested freeway, which is a patchwork of six-, eight- and 10-lane widths, is expected to begin in 1994 and will take about two years to complete, officials said.

When the $32.8-million widening is finished, both the eastbound and westbound lanes closest to the median will be designated as car-pool lanes from the Golden State Freeway to the Ventura County line, a distance of 11.4 miles.

Still to be determined is how Ventura County will finance its plan to widen the freeway, which is mostly six lanes wide.

In November, Ventura County voters soundly rejected an extra half-cent sales tax that would have paid for the widening.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission has been anxious to get the project going because planners have warned that congestion is likely to increase dramatically because of growth in Ventura County and from Porter Ranch, a massive planned development in Chatsworth recently approved by the Los Angeles City Council.

In September, the California Transportation Commission, dividing up the proceeds of $18.5 billion in transportation funds approved by state voters in June, refused to set aside funds for the widening.

Local transportation planners said the Simi Valley Freeway project failed to win approval because at the time, the county didn’t have the money to participate in the newly created category of shared cost projects.

Under the new system, counties that have increased the local sales tax to help pay road-building costs are given an extra share of state money.

However, in November, Los Angeles County voters approved an extra half-cent sales tax, which is expected to yield $400 million a year, with 25% earmarked for highway projects.

With the new funds, Los Angeles County officials negotiated an agreement under which the state would pay $6 million of the widening cost and the county would pay $26.8 million. They also agreed to combine three separate widening projects to minimize disruption on the freeway.

At separate meetings Wednesday, the state and county commissions approved their shares.

Francine Oschin, an aide to Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, who strongly supported the Porter Ranch development in his district, said: “This freeway should flow pretty well once it’s widened. Ten lanes can handle a lot of growth.”

According to California Department of Transportation officials, the freeway carries 174,000 vehicles daily and is congested about 30 hours per week.