Turnaround Isn’t Fair Play but Road Remains Closed : Ojai Valley: Many grapple with continuing unavailability of a stretch of California 150.

Most days, Ojai Valley realtor Don Edwards watches traffic from his small office at the corner of California 150 and 33, chalking up the number of U-turn drivers and near-miss accidents.

Since a stretch of State 150 closed in the wake of heavy rains that caused rockslides and flooding in January, Edwards has waged a one-man campaign to alert transportation officials that signs should be placed along the Ojai Freeway warning that the route to Carpinteria is impassable.

“I am so livid,” Edwards said. “I can’t tell you the miscommunication that’s going on. . . . You’ve got semis doing U-turns in the middle of a state highway. I have seen cars pull off to the side of the road to avoid the semis. It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Edwards has written letters to elected officials, the California Highway Patrol and the state Department of Transportation. The last Caltrans official he got on the phone abruptly hung up.

While Monday’s closure of the Ventura Freeway at La Conchita stranded motorists between Ventura and Santa Barbara, thousands of Ojai Valley residents are grappling daily with the ongoing closure of State 150.

“It doesn’t affect our businesses too badly for everyday situations,” said Margaret Westrom, executive director of the Ojai Valley Chamber of Commerce. “But when the Ventura Freeway was closed earlier this week, people were driving on 150 only to find out it was closed,” she said. “It got so bad they were backing up.”

Caltrans officials say they are doing the best they can to reopen the winding two-lane road connecting Carpinteria with the Ojai Valley.

Two of four dirt- and rock-strewn areas along the highway have been cleaned up, said Caltrans spokesman Rick Holland.

Sealed bids were opened Thursday for the third phase, which will probably begin later this month and be completed within two months. The final phase will be advertised next month and take up to 75 days to complete, he said.

“We’re estimating that the road will be open sometime in October or November,” Holland said.

Meanwhile, drivers can always take State 33 to California 166 over to Santa Maria, and go north or south on U.S. 101 at that point, he said.

But Holland had little to say about installing more signs.

“There are signs elsewhere and there’s a limit to the number of signs you can put out there,” he said. “It’s been in the newspaper, everybody knows about it and it’s been closed for five months anyway.”

Nonetheless, Holland said Caltrans traffic engineers would review the location of its signs, which now are placed along State 150 at both U.S. 101 in Carpinteria and at the State 150-33 junction in Mira Monte.

Ojai City Manager Andrew Belknap said the situation has helped business, but bothered locals.

“During the rains, people stayed overnight in the motels and that was good,” he said. “But a lot of people who live in Ojai work in Santa Barbara, and that’s quite a commute. So I’ve heard a lot of complaints.”

One of those complaining is retired auto mechanic Peter DeKock of Ojai, who travels to Santa Barbara twice a week.

State 150 “is the shortest way to Santa Barbara, so it should be repaired as soon as possible,” he said. “It is shorter and it is a much nicer road to drive.”

Ojai resident Don Anderson said he drove his four-wheel-drive vehicle around the barriers along State 150 as recently as last month. He said there is little damage left from the floods and that the highway should be open much sooner than November.

“The road is virtually intact,” said Anderson, a retired journalist. “There is one spot that is narrow, but it would take Caltrans probably 10 days to get that fixed.

“In the meantime, residents of Ojai have been inconvenienced for months.”