CAMARILLO : Key Road Project Nears Completion

Residents and commuters in fast-growing eastern Camarillo will soon be able to maneuver more easily through one of the area’s major intersections.

A $6.5-million construction project that is adding lanes to the Ventura Freeway interchange at Santa Rosa and Pleasant Valley roads is expected to be complete by the middle of this month, Camarillo city officials said.

The project, which began about June, 1991, has added on-ramps for motorists traveling from Santa Rosa Road onto the westbound freeway and from Pleasant Valley Road onto the eastbound lanes, said Dan Greely, the city’s director of engineering services.

In addition, the freeway overpass over Pleasant Valley Road is being widened from two to four lanes, with a capacity for six lanes.

The construction project is expected to relieve traffic congestion at the interchange, which had becoming increasingly clogged as new residential and commercial developments have sprung up in eastern Camarillo over the past 15 years, Greeley said.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the construction project will be held at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 15 at the Santa Rosa Road overpass.

The entire cost of the road improvements has been paid by Pardee Construction Co., a developer that built most of the residential and commercial buildings near the interchange.