Santa Rosa Road Speedway Is Not What They Expected

Dear Street Smart:

We live in Leisure Village, and Santa Rosa Road runs right behind our home.

When we moved into the village some 12 years ago, we were aware of the fact that Santa Rosa Road was near our backyard, and we expected some noise.

But the stretch from Oak Creek Road beyond Upland Road is now a speedway--not only for normal traffic, but for many heavy trucks. The police used to issue citations frequently and enforce the 45-mph speed limit, but you hardly see them on this stretch of road anymore.

The pavement must have high and low spots because when the big trucks roar through, they shake our whole house. Enforcing the speed limit would slow down the heavy traffic and reduce some of the excessive noise.

I would appreciate anything you could do to help this situation.

John Lacy

Leisure Village

Dear Reader:

Sgt. Bob Larson, who is in charge of traffic enforcement in the Camarillo area, said he is aware that deputy patrols along that portion of Santa Rosa Road have dipped in recent months.

But he has a reasonable explanation.

“We try to be where the high accident locations are,” he said. “We’re not out there to write tickets for the sake of writing tickets; we’re out there for the purpose of making the streets safer.”

Because fewer crashes have occurred along Santa Rosa Road lately, deputies have been dispatched elsewhere, Larson said.

“We concentrate on the areas where we have high accident rates, and there hasn’t been as many accidents along Santa Rosa Road so far this year,” he said.

Dear Street Smart:

We live in the Wood Ranch neighborhood of Simi Valley. There is a major problem here with cars racing down Wood Ranch Parkway when exiting the area.

This is a constant problem, especially in the morning when either trying to exit Lake Park Drive near the golf course, or simply crossing the street.

A major concern is now, with the Long Canyon development starting at the top of Wood Ranch Parkway, another 680 homes will force the traffic down this street.

We need a traffic light now. What’s going to happen when these homes are completed? Help! What can we do?

To date, there have been three accidents here that we know of.

Eric Guthman

Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

When the Wood Ranch development was approved, city planners required comprehensive traffic analyses that would spell out how many cars would be moving around the new subdivision.

Those studies concluded that Wood Ranch Parkway should be wide enough to accommodate all of the proposed traffic generated by Wood Ranch residents, up through the year the development is built out.

That means that traffic studies say the parkway is indeed wide enough for the 680 new homes planned for Long Canyon, said Bill Golubics, who supervises traffic in Simi Valley.

“Wood Ranch Parkway was master-planned as being the major street to serve the Wood Ranch area, which was projected to have about 3,800 homes eventually built there,” he said.

“It is a street designed for higher speeds,” said Golubics, who added that he sees no need for any new traffic signals there at this time.

Dear Street Smart:

Going south on Westlake Boulevard in Westlake, when approaching Bridgegate Street, Westlake is wide enough for three lanes, but is only marked for two.

Since the road narrows at Potrero Valley Creek bridge, cars in the unmarked third lane squeeze into the second lane.

When approaching Bridgegate Street, there should be a sign and an arrow on the road denoting right turns only. A visitor was told by a policeman that this is a right-turn-only lane, but there is no sign indicating this.

Judy Hoffmann

Westlake

Dear Reader:

That unidentified traffic cop was mistaken. The lane is designed as a through lane, but cars are allowed to turn right at the intersection at Bridgegate Street.

The agency that maintains Westlake Boulevard said the street was designed to be wide. State Department of Transportation officials said the second lane would be re-striped into a third lane to accommodate more cars when traffic volumes require it.

“The current right-turn traffic volume on southbound Westlake Boulevard to Bridgegate Street does not warrant an exclusive right-turn lane at this time,” said Caltrans spokeswoman Pat Reid.

Besides, there is no record of operational or safety concerns at the corner, she said.

Nonetheless, Caltrans plans to install arrow pavement markings at the approach to Potrero Valley Creek bridge to alert drivers to the reduction in travel lane width, Reid said.

Write to Street Smart, The Times Ventura County Edition, 93 S. Chestnut St., Ventura 93001. You may enclose a simple sketch if it will help Street Smart understand your traffic questions. Or call our Sound Off Line, 653-7546. Whether writing or calling, include your full name, address, and day and evening phone numbers. No anonymous queries will be accepted, and letters are subject to editing.