For Safety’s Sake, Caltrans Needs Support for California 118 Projects

As one of the founders of Citizens for a Safe Highway 118, I can honestly state there is no conspiracy afoot to pave over the Las Posas Valley as set forth in Patricia Feiner Arkin’s opinion piece Dec. 6.

In December 1995, after two fatal car accidents on the Mesa School S-curve, a group of citizens came together in an effort to get Caltrans to improve safety on the highway. At the time, very little was programmed into Caltrans’ budget for solid solutions to California 118’s problems. Crosses were sprouting along the road’s shoulder, grim markers of those who had lost their lives there.

We hear much regarding the charmed lifestyle our green valley affords the residents of Ventura County. That’s why many of us live here. But for those who use California 118 every day, for the commuter as well as those who farm the land and are lucky enough to live in the valley, this stretch of highway has become a nightmare.

I commend Caltrans. Those I love, my family and friends, my neighbors, have been well-served by this agency. Caltrans has listened to the community and altered designs accordingly and has proposed solutions to what anyone with common sense can easily see needs to be done. The highway cannot stay as it is.

The cities of this county have grown up around our sweet green valley. Their residents use the highway along with those of us who live here, and there is no turning them back. This is their road as well as ours. And their lives are at stake just the same as ours.

I urge the residents of Ventura County to support Caltrans before or at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting this Tuesday, when they consider a proposal to expend public funds on a full environmental impact report. Producing an EIR would greatly delay the start of work on California 118.

Please, call your supervisor and give the public servants from Caltrans a good word. They are not here to bulldoze over our agricultural community or to blight us with increased car and truck traffic. They are only trying to offer remedies to existing problems.