State Hears Residents’ Concerns on Widening Highway 118

After years of controversy surrounding Caltrans’ plan to widen and improve sections of California 118, agency planners met with residents of the Las Posas Valley on Wednesday night to detail the state’s latest designs and hear comments from community members, some of whom fear the project will lead to uncontrolled growth.

At the behest of residents, California Department of Transportation planners and design specialists met with residents at Mesa Elementary School to present their preliminary plans to widen a stretch of the now two-lane rural highway around Somis and Donlon roads to five lanes.

They also discussed a proposed project to widen and straighten the notorious Mesa School S-curve, situated midway between Somis and Saticoy. According to Caltrans officials, the projects are designed to increase safety along the roadway, which has logged more than 600 accidents since 1990, resulting in 20 deaths.

Crews are scheduled to break ground on the road projects in the summer of 2001.

“These [road changes] will alleviate congestion and many of the kinds of accidents we’ve seen there in the past,” said Aline Antaramian , a Caltrans project designer.

However, some residents worry that the projects are just the beginning of a long-range plan to widen the entire freeway from Moorpark to Saticoy. They contend that once the road is widened, it will usher in an era of uncontrolled development in the picturesque valley.

Opponents of such development, some of whom have allied themselves with the group Save Our Somis, presented Caltrans with a list of concerns and possible solutions they said will make the road safer without an $11.8-million widening.

Those suggestions include adding passing lanes, stoplights and other devices to slow traffic. Instead of making a major change to the intersection of Somis Road and California 118, it was suggested that the state construct a bypass that would extend Lewis Road to connect to the 118, making it unnecessary to widen Somis Road.

Caltrans planners said they will try to address such concerns when drafting the final plans for the highway project.

“We’re definitely in a listening mode and will certainly try to use their thoughts,” said Joe Brazil, Caltrans’ director of citizen participation.

Pat Arkin, a member of Save Our Somis, a committee of residents concerned about developing the Los Posas Valley, said she worried about turning California 118 into a major thoroughfare.

“I think everyone agrees we want a safer highway, and one that works well for everyone who uses it,” Arkin said. “But we believe these projects entail much more and are really just the initial step in the overall widening of 118.”