First Freeway Car-Pool Lanes in Valley Planned

State transportation engineers are planning the first freeway car-pool lanes in the San Fernando Valley as part of a $39.4-million project to widen the Simi Valley Freeway, officials said Wednesday.

The lanes, which will extend from Interstate 5 to the Ventura County line, will be built in the median strip of the Simi Valley Freeway and become a new lane in both directions, officials said. Construction is expected to begin in 1994 and will take a year to 18 months.

The state Department of Transportation in 1989 dropped plans to dedicate a new lane on the Ventura Freeway to car-pools after vehement opposition from local residents and politicians. But car-pool lanes on the Simi Valley Freeway are supported--somewhat reluctantly--by many North Valley commuters and elected officials, who note that in addition to car-pool lanes, a fourth regular lane will be created along much of the freeway in both directions.