$15 Million Sought to Tie Port to Highways : Transportation: Two congressmen request the federal money to develop a better access road for shippers.

Two Ventura County congressmen have requested that $15 million in federal gas-tax money be appropriated to develop a main thoroughfare between the Port of Hueneme and two major highways that cross the county.

The request by U. S. Reps. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) and Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) was included in a new highway bill now before Congress.

The money would be used to help develop a primary access road from the port to the Pacific Coast Highway and the Ventura Freeway, Lagomarsino said.

Anthony Taormina, director of the Oxnard Harbor District-Port of Hueneme said both harbor district and county officials have been pushing for a main access road for several years.

Taormina said large cargo trucks serving the port often use roads through residential neighborhoods when traveling between the port and the county’s highways. He said the result has been continuous complaints from nearby residents about truck traffic.

Moreover, the port--considered vital to the county’s economy--would be able to increase annual tonnage if shippers could get better access to it, Taormina said.

Christopher Stephens, a senior planner with the county Transportation Department, said the $15 million would be used to extend Rice Avenue from the Pacific Coast Highway to Hueneme Road. The extension would run directly south from the Rice Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway interchange to Hueneme Road.

Some of the highway money also would be used to upgrade the interchange and to widen portions of Hueneme Road from two to four lanes between Saviers Road and the new Rice Avenue extension.

Lagomarsino said it would probably be September or October before both houses of Congress vote on the highway bill, which would then have to be approved by President Bush.

If the bill is approved, Stephens said, preliminary work on the roadway and the interchange improvements could begin within the next six months.

He said it would be at least two to three years before actual construction would begin on the projects. He said the interchange improvements would be undertaken first.

The Port of Hueneme is the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Part of the dock space at the port is owned by the Oxnard Harbor District, and the remainder is owned by the Navy.

Taormina said more than 500,000 tons of cargo passed through the port last year. Its principal commodities are agricultural and petroleum products and automobiles.

Taormina said the tonnage passing through the port has been about the same for the past several years.

Although there are no plans to physically expand the port, the Oxnard Harbor District’s primary objective is to increase the amount of cargo that passes through the facility to 1 million tons, Taormina said.

He said the road improvements and the extension of Rice Avenue would bring more business to the port. Shippers now have to travel through narrow, congested streets to and from the port, he said.

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