Freeway Onramp to Be Revamped

A tricky entrance to the northbound Ventura Freeway will be improved in the next few years, according to Oxnard officials.

The Oxnard Boulevard entrance to the freeway places cars directly into the fast lane at the Santa Clara River Bridge, a situation that causes regular tie-ups.

“When you enter into the fast lane, that’s a very precarious situation, to say the least,” said Oxnard City Manager Ed Sotelo.

The city wants to design a flyover interchange that would allow vehicles to enter via the slow lane.

The City Council recently approved spending $1 million in federal funds for preliminary engineering, which includes environmental work on the plan. The city is required to pay $200,000, which has been appropriated through federal Transportation Development Act funds.

Rita Johnson, Oxnard’s senior transportation planner, said the environmental review of the improvements should be completed by September 2000. Sotelo said construction of the project would begin in 2001.

Ten years ago, the interchange got backed up every once in a while, particularly during the holidays, said Caltrans Region Manager Dave Servaes. Now such traffic jams are a daily occurrence.

“It’s congested especially on Fridays and holidays because it has a lane reduction in that area,” Servaes said. “There’s been a lot of time and effort from Caltrans and Oxnard and Ventura to come up with a plan to reconstruct that area to accommodate the traffic.”