The Open Road : Fillmore: The two-year widening of California 126 is finished. Merchants who depend on the main route say recouping lost business will take time.

Traffic on California 126 in Fillmore is busier than usual these days, and that makes a lot of people happy in this east county city of 12,000.

Many of the city’s businesses are located along the highway and depend on its traffic for their livelihood.

But it hasn’t been an easy existence the past two years. During that time, construction crews ripped up a six-mile section of the highway that runs through the city so that the road could be widened from two to four lanes.

Although the $14-million widening project was completed last month, merchants said it will be some time before they recover the business that they lost due to inconveniences created by the roadwork.

Many said their business dropped 10% to 35%. Two restaurants and one gas station folded during the construction period, but city officials said the downturn in the economy played a major role in their failures.

Jim Ramsey Jr., who owns and operates a McDonald’s franchise, said he was one of those who felt the pinch during the road widening. He said the highway is vital to his business, because the city itself is not large enough to support his operation.

“Most of my business comes from the highway,” he said. “A lot of people here are too poor to go to McDonald’s. McDonald’s is a special treat.”

Jay Kim, owner of the nearby La Posada Motel, said his business also was hurt during construction. He said he relies heavily on the patronage of truckers who transport produce and other goods to and from the area.

But Kim said that when the roadway in front of his motel was ripped up last summer, there was no place for truckers to park and many went on to nearby Santa Paula or Piru.

“We lost a lot of business,” Kim said. “People didn’t want to come this way. It was very difficult. But right now it’s starting to pick up.”

But now that the highway work is completed, merchants say their business is gradually returning and that they expect it eventually to be better than it was before.

City officials agree. They said the road improvements will make it easier and safer to drive on the highway, which local residents refer to as “Blood Alley” because of the number of traffic fatalities that occur on the roadway each year.

California 126 for the past two years has been second only to the Ventura Freeway in the number of fatalities that have been recorded in Ventura County, according to the California Highway Patrol. In 1990, there were four fatalities on California 126 compared to six on the Ventura Freeway. The year before, there were 10 on California 126 compared to 15 on the Ventura Freeway.

But Highway Patrol officials said they believe that the road widening will cut down on the number of accidents.

“We think a lot of the problems have been engineered out of the highway,” CHP spokesman John Utter said. “I would definitely have to say that it’s going to be safer than when it was a two-lane highway.”

Fillmore Mayor Scott Lee agreed.

“The road improvements will help get people to Fillmore in a safer manner,” Lee said. “Before, it was one of the most dangerous highways in the state.”

Lee said the city plans to use the road improvements to attract more commercial and industrial development to the small farming community surrounded by citrus groves and rolling hills.

City officials said there are already plans for a new 130,000-square-foot shopping center, which will include a Ralphs supermarket, to be built on the highway between Central Avenue and A Street. They said the project has been given high priority by the City Council so that work can begin by early next year.

“It’s going to be a tremendous boon to the community,” Councilman Roger Campbell said of the shopping center. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some Santa Paula people coming over here to shop.”

In addition, the city recently entered into an agreement with a group of 10 landowners to develop a 128-acre industrial park in the northwest corner of the city. The city already has accepted bids to build new streets, sewers and storm drains at the park site beginning in July.

An economic advisory committee, made up of city and business leaders, has been formed to determine what kinds of businesses the city would like to attract and to develop strategies on how to promote the industrial park.

Campbell said the city offers an attractive location and slightly lower land prices compared to other areas of the county.

“The one thing I think we’re going to have to overcome is the perception that some people have that we’re way out in the country,” he said. “They have to realize we are 30 minutes from Thousand Oaks, 30 minutes from Oxnard and 40 minutes from the San Fernando Valley.”

Campbell and Lee said it is essential for the city to create more jobs to reduce the number of people commuting outside the city to work. Now, about 70% of the work force travels elsewhere to earn a living, city officials said.

City officials also hope to get into the tourism business.

They are negotiating with Southern Pacific Transportation Co. to allow the owners of a small railway--whose exclusive business is to rent trains to filmmakers for use in making movies--to locate in Fillmore.

The owners of Short Line Enterprises Ltd. want to lease rail property in the city, but it is unclear whether Southern Pacific will approve such an agreement.

City officials said that if the deal goes through, the owners of the Short Line would augment their filming income by operating a dinner train between Santa Paula and Piru.

“I think it would be a real plus for the whole valley,” Campbell said of the dinner train. “I think it would bring people up here and give them a chance to see what a beautiful place this is. And hopefully spend a little money while they’re here.”

Despite all the plans to develop the city’s economic base by bringing in more businesses, officials make it clear that they want to keep a tight rein on residential growth.

The city’s population is expected to increase from its current 11,992 to 14,260 in the year 2000 and 16,170 in 2010, according to county projections. And city officials say there is increasing pressure to build more houses.

Lee said the growth issue caused him to run for the City Council two years ago. He said he was determined to put the brakes to a developer’s proposal to build a 750- to 1,000-unit housing tract in the city.

“I’m concerned that that is something that we are going to continue to battle from now on,” he said.

“I grew up here, and I stayed here because of its smallness,” Lee said. “I’m of the philosophy that you can’t grow out of problems. You can only grow into them.”