CAMARILLO : City to Proceed With Work on Freeway Bridge

Construction on a long-awaited project to replace a congested Camarillo freeway overpass will begin this year despite a lack of funding from the state.

The city of Camarillo will spend $3.5 million in developer fees and federal highway money to replace a 30-year-old, two-lane overpass at Carmen Drive with a four-lane road.

The seven-month project, scheduled to begin in September, is part of an $11-million plan by Camarillo and the California Department of Transportation to ease congestion near the Ventura Freeway.

Camarillo has agreed to pay about $6.5 million, but so far has only the $3.5 million in its budget. Caltrans has agreed to spend $4.5 million, but has no money in its 1993-94 budget for the project.

Funding for the rest of the project, which includes realigning Ventura Boulevard, was not included in Caltrans’ list of projects for 1994, which was released Monday.

Only one Caltrans-funded project is planned for Ventura County--$565,000 to widen a half-mile stretch of Moorpark Avenue from High Street to Casey Road in Moorpark.

In Camarillo, city officials decided to begin a portion of the project in response to complaints about traffic backups, even though Caltrans has not come up with its share of the funding.

“It’s a problem now and it’s not going to get any better,” City Manager William Little said. “We might as well go ahead and get it done to make it workable.”

Little said the city would hire Caltrans workers to construct the bridge and install two traffic signals.