Simi Freeway Repairs Won’t End Tie-Ups

Think traffic congestion will end when Caltrans wraps up quake repairs on the Simi Valley (118) Freeway?

Think again.

Just as repairs are expected to end in the quake-wracked Granada Hills stretch of the Simi Valley Freeway in mid-September, the California Department of Transportation will begin a $22.4 million project to add car-pool and other lanes to an even longer stretch of the freeway.

The 11.8-mile project, which includes both directions of the freeway from just west of the Ventura County line to the Golden State Freeway, will add two mixed flow and two car-pool lanes.

By 2010, the additional lanes are expected to reduce by 11,500 the number of drivers during the morning and afternoon peak periods, according to Caltrans District 7 Director Jerry B. Baxter. The project is expected to be completed in two years.

Caltrans contributed $9.7 million to the project and $12.7 million came from local transportation taxes approved in 1990 by Los Angeles County voters in the form of Proposition C. FCI Constructors of San Diego is the contractor.

The project also includes two new Park-and-Ride lots, one near the San Diego Freeway/Simi Valley Freeway interchange and the other to be built on Winnetka Avenue. Four sound walls to lessen noise in residential neighborhoods and near a California Highway Patrol station will also be constructed.