Labor Day Weekend Crunch Begins : Holidays: Freeways, campgrounds and hotels in the county begin filling up. Sunny skies are forecast through Monday.

The Labor Day weekend is expected to be laborious for motorists, campers and vacationers alike as Ventura County’s freeways, campgrounds and hotels fill to capacity during the traditional last weekend of the summer.

It also is traditionally the deadliest weekend of the year for motorists, California Highway Patrol officials warned.

“With more people on the road, the averages naturally increase,” said CHP Officer Brian De Mattia. “Everybody’s trying to pack in a week of fun in three days.”

Two people were killed on county highways in 1993, and no fatalities were reported in Ventura County last year during the three-day holiday weekend. Drunk-driving arrests were also down, and the CHP expects the trend to continue this year.

“That’s always the hope,” De Mattia said. Traffic began to get heavy in both directions of the Ventura Freeway by early Friday afternoon, and De Mattia said the congestion would only get worse. From the Simi Valley Freeway in the east to California 33 in the west, every artery is expected to clog.

The situation will only get worse when scores of cars and recreational vehicles inevitably break down in the heavy traffic, De Mattia said.

“We are advising everybody to be more patient and give everybody else a little more courtesy,” he said. “Personally, I’m staying home.”

De Mattia said every available officer will be patrolling the county’s highways through 9 p.m. Monday.

The traffic may be hellish, but the National Weather Service is predicting heavenly weather. “It will be barbecue weather,” meteorologist Robert Barrufaldi said.

Barrufaldi forecast sunny skies and temperatures reaching the mid-70s along the coast and the mid-80s inland during the day through Monday. He said low clouds and fog are possible in the mornings along the coast, and he expected a cool sea breeze of about 15 m.p.h. to blow off and on throughout the weekend.

Lifeguards are expecting the beaches to be crowded as inland residents flee the sweatier valleys.

“Yes, we are certainly expecting a busy weekend,” said Mark Thompson, a lifeguard at San Buenaventura State Beach. He said Friday was busier than usual and he expected the beach to be packed throughout the weekend.

“But everything was quiet Friday, no real rescues to report,” he said. Most of the campgrounds and recreational vehicle parks in Ventura County are either full or expected to be full by today, officials said.

“We’re all full,” said Ben Spahr of the Ventura Beach RV Park. He said the park was fully booked for the weekend several weeks ago.

Officials at state campgrounds, including Emma Wood and McGrath state beaches, had a similar report.

“This is one of the three busiest weekends of the year,” said Craig Sublette, who takes reservations for all of the state-run campgrounds. “Everything is pretty well booked up.”

A few spaces were still available at Lake Piru and Lake Casitas sites, while east county hotels said a few rooms were still available for the weekend.

“We are not sold out, but it is busy,” said Karie Olson, a rooms executive with the Westlake Hyatt Hotel.

But hotels and motels in Ventura said they are filled to capacity. The Holiday Inn in Ventura has been booked solid for about two weeks, General Manager Robert Swain said.

“It is pretty much the busiest weekend of the year for us,” Swain said. “It’s the last hurrah of summer.”