State Senate to Vote on ‘Reagan Freeway’ Plan : Transportation: Approval is expected on the plan to rename the Simi highway. Katz and Caltrans skirmish over the issue.

While the Assembly reconvenes Monday to the high drama of a partisan power struggle, one of the first orders of business in the Senate will be renaming the Simi Valley Freeway after former President Ronald Reagan.

A Senate resolution to post the ailing ex-President’s name on the 118 Freeway--which runs across the northern rim of the San Fernando Valley from San Fernando over the Simi Hills to Moorpark--is expected to win easy approval, said Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), the measure’s main author.

“I think it’s appropriate to acknowledge Ronald Reagan’s contribution as a private citizen, as governor and as President,” Lockyer said Friday. “And naming a freeway after him is one of the ways that those honors get bestowed.”

The seemingly non-controversial proposal follows a brief skirmish between the California Department of Transportation and Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) who, as chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, opposes naming freeways for living people.

“I’d prefer the policy of naming freeways in honor of people who have died,” Katz said. “I have nothing against Ronald Reagan, but where do you draw the line?”

Suggesting that Caltrans was trying to rush the freeway re-christening, Katz sent a letter to the department on Sept. 12, warning it against moving forward without first obtaining Senate approval. The Assembly had adopted its version of the Reagan resolution Aug. 31 but failed to get it to the Senate floor in time for a vote before adjournment.

Katz’s concern and the tone of his letter--in which he asked Caltrans to confirm that it “ will not allow the posting of signs” before Senate approval--left state transportation officials questioning the appropriateness of his objections.

Caltrans spokesman Jim Drago said the assemblyman’s request for assurances amounted to “much ado about nothing.”

“He voiced the concern,” Drago said. “But the fact of the matter is this is going through the normal process anyway and going to the Senate for a vote.”

As for breaking with tradition and naming a freeway after a living figure, William G. Brennan, deputy secretary of the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, said this is one case that warrants a departure--particularly in light of Reagan’s recent disclosure that he has entered the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

“It’s said that people have to wait until they die to be acknowledged or recognized for their achievements,” Brennan said. “I just don’t get offended about going out and naming a freeway after him now, while he can still enjoy it. I wish there was a bigger one and a longer one we could pick.”

Caltrans estimates the cost of designating the 118 corridor as the Ronald Reagan Freeway at about $4,000. That should cover the price of erecting and maintaining new signs at each end of the freeway, Drago said.

Funding will come from private donations expected to be collected by a nonprofit entity set up by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), a co-author of the Senate resolution, said one benefit of renaming the freeway will be to remind people of the presidential library’s location.

“It will give us the opportunity to highlight that the library is in Simi Valley,” Wright said.

But Katz said a more appropriate decision would be to name California 23 for the former President, since that highway leads right to the library’s driveway.

At one point, Katz said, it was suggested that the Pacific Coast Highway be named after Reagan, “but I couldn’t see naming the state’s most scenic coastal highway for a man who once said, ‘When you’ve seen one redwood, you’ve seen them all.’ ”