State OKs $11.8 Million to Widen Simi Freeway : Transportation: Project will add two lanes in each direction along a 12-mile segment. Work is expected to start in December.

Close on the heels of the massive project to repair the earthquake-damaged Simi Valley Freeway, work will begin anew before year’s end to enlarge the freeway by four lanes, Caltrans announced Wednesday.

The California Transportation Commission, meeting in Sacramento this week, allocated $11.8 million to widen the freeway from west of the Los Angeles/Ventura County line to the Golden State Freeway, a distance of about 12 miles.

The two-year project will add one regular lane and one car-pool lane in each direction. Construction is expected to begin in December and be completed by the end of 1996.

Two Park-and-Ride lots to serve the Simi Valley Freeway will also be constructed near its intersection with the San Diego Freeway and at Winnetka Avenue.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Commission will contribute $15.7 million to the $27-million project, said Joe Shaw, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

Construction will include median and shoulder reconstruction, drainage modification, bridge widening, retaining walls and sound walls, Shaw said.

Now that the funds have been allocated for the project, contracts can be awarded for the work, he said.

Sections of the freeway were closed by the Jan. 17 earthquake. Crews worked round-the-clock to make preliminary repairs, and through traffic resumed just over a month after the temblor.

Complete repairs, including the rebuilding of several freeway overpasses, is scheduled to be done by June, Shaw said.

Overall traffic volume on the Simi Valley Freeway, in some places reduced to two lanes, has steadily increased since the earthquake. From an average of 107,000 daily trips early in March, traffic has increased to an average 118,000 daily trips this week, Shaw said.

Evening peak hour traffic of 9,400 daily trips has now nearly reached the pre-quake level of 9,950 trips, according to Caltrans studies. Morning volume remains somewhat lower at 8,800 daily trips, compared with 10,800 before the quake.

Even before the earthquake, the Simi Valley Freeway experienced increasingly heavy traffic as suburban populations grew in northwestern Los Angeles and eastern Ventura counties. Traffic was also slowed during peak hours by the changing configuration of the freeway, which varied from three lanes to five.

The car-pool lanes, known officially as High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, are reserved for cars with two or more occupants and are designed to relieve congestion by concentrating more people into a portion of the freeway. Some HOV lanes carry up to 40% of the people traveling on a freeway, Shaw said.

“The HOV program is designed to significantly increase the capacity of the freeway system in a relatively short time and at minimal cost,” said Jerry B. Baxter, director of District 7 for Caltrans.

Currently, there are 65 miles of HOV lanes in Los Angeles County. Other HOV lanes are under construction on the Harbor and Artesia freeways, and the Ventura Freeway east of the Hollywood Freeway.