Earthquake: The Long Road Back : As Roads Get Crowded, Metrolink Ridership Expected to Swell : Commuting: Transportation Commission officials consider special trains west to Oxnard or Ventura to help relieve the burden on highways.

Ventura County residents driving into Los Angeles enjoyed a fairly smooth commute Tuesday, officials said, but the same trip will become much more difficult today and through the end of the week as more commuters return to work.

“So far, so good; we’ll see what happens tomorrow,” Russell Snyder, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said Tuesday. “A lot of people stayed home, so that helped us a lot today. But we do expect traffic to pick up later in the week.”

With the Simi Valley Freeway closed through parts of the San Fernando Valley and the Golden State Freeway shut down indefinitely, Snyder said drivers are left with few alternatives when driving east and south. The only major route now available is the Ventura Freeway, and Snyder said drivers will have to compete for space on that road for the foreseeable future.

“The 118 (Simi Valley Freeway) is still a major problem, and that’s an important route for a lot of Ventura County commuters, as is I-5 (the Golden State Freeway),” Snyder said. “This isn’t going to be something that’s going to be over tomorrow. It’s going to be a long-term closure, and it’s going to require a lot of patience and cooperation from people who use those routes.”

One potentially mitigating factor is the expected restoration Thursday of Metrolink commuter rail service from Moorpark and Simi Valley into the San Fernando Valley and downtown Los Angeles.

Mary Travis, manager of transit programs for the Ventura County Transportation Commission, said she is hopeful that Metrolink service would resume shortly and that ridership is expected to soar far past the 500 to 600 Ventura County residents who usually take the weekday trains.

Travis also said Transportation Commission officials are investigating the possibility of running special Metrolink trains as far west as Oxnard or Ventura to help relieve the burden on highways.

County transportation officials have been considering expanding Metrolink service to western Ventura County since last summer’s successful train experiment connecting Simi Valley in eastern Ventura County with the Ventura County Fair in Ventura.

“It’s something that we wanted to try at some point in the future,” Travis said. “Circumstances now are such that they make it more of a necessity than a trial.”

To make the special service possible, the commission and Metrolink officials would need the permission of Southern Pacific Transportation Co.--which controls the railroad tracks west of Moorpark--and would need to line up extra staff and trains.

Travis said the commission was looking to run at least two trains from west Ventura County into Los Angeles and back each day. She said officials would know within a few days whether they will be able to add the service.

With many arterial roads crippled by the quake, local officials urged commuters to use public transportation such as Metrolink.

“This is a great opportunity for everyone to take Metrolink because the traffic is going to be enormous,” Moorpark Councilman Scott Montgomery said. “Metrolink is a tremendous alternative.”

Travis said riders interested in the availability of Metrolink trains and their time schedules should call (800) 371-LINK or the county Transportation Commission’s hot line, (800) 438-1112, after 7:30 a.m.