Road Work Snarls Traffic, Tempers

Orange cones, orange safety vests and diamond-shaped orange “Road Work Ahead” signs are making some drivers and residents see red near Adolfo Camarillo High School.

Some of the more hot-tempered people vent their displeasure on construction workers, said Aaron Ramirez, whose father-in-law’s company, JFJ Construction, was paving over sewer lines near the intersection of Adolfo and Santa Rosa roads. But the workers say they understand.

“We’re right here in the middle of the road,” he said while working at the site Friday. “Yeah, we’ve heard some traffic complaints. I think the mayor lives over on this side of this city.”

Actually, Mayor Stan Daily lives on the other side of town.

But a number of car honkers, on the verge of road rage after making left turns from blocked lanes onto Adolfo Road, are still steaming.

The good news is that the sewer project, being done next to the high school, should be completed soon. But plenty of other work continues to clog up the area.

Since the end of July, crews have been putting in overflow sewer lines that will run from the new single-family and clustered-unit Pardee Homes along Mission Oaks Boulevard. Those homes are expected to be complete in four to six months.

Parents who have been using Mission Oaks Boulevard as a drop-off and pickup zone for their high school children are encouraged to stop doing so, said Tom Fox, city traffic engineer.

“It’s not wise to load and unload your kids on Mission Oaks when cars are whizzing by at 50 mph,” Fox said.

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When school starts today, drivers should use the lower area off Mission Oaks Boulevard by the school’s baseball fields as a loading and parking area. They can also use a second parking area by the upper agriculture gate of the school.

Both parking lots have been repaved and restriped to squeeze in more parking spaces. From now on, only staff and short-term visitors will be allowed to use what used to be the main entrance, closest to Mission Oaks Boulevard.

Further down the boulevard, the traffic situation is far from uplifting.

There is still no bridge over bone-dry Calleguas Creek.

And traffic won’t be moving over that $2.8-million project until Dec. 21, said William Piete, engineer of Parsons Brinckerhoff Construction Services Inc.

Crews closed a 4,400-foot segment of Mission Oaks Boulevard in June, detouring traffic onto Adolfo and Flynn roads.

The old bridge was torn down because it wasn’t long enough or high enough to withstand the rising creek water during the rainy season. Parts of the old bridge, which now lie in a crumbled heap of rubble, will be recycled and used as part of the new roadway underneath the new overpass and road extension.

Yet another project is going on right next to the bridge work.

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Crews are building a $3.2-million onramp and offramp from Flynn Road to connect with the Ventura Freeway. When completed, which should be next summer, the Dawson Drive ramp will be torn down because it doesn’t meet current standards, Piete said.

Despite the improvements, the construction--and the clearing of vegetation and farmland to complete the projects--has upset some nearby dwellers.

“It’s been a major pain for us,” said a Camarillo Ranch resident who lives on Mission Oaks Boulevard and asked to remain anonymous. “The construction has made me late for soccer practice with my kids and I track mud in with me when I get out of the garage.

“But the saddest part is that they’ve taken down rows of eucalyptus trees. We cried when they did that. They’ve marked about 88 more of them with red paint. That means they’re going to go too.”