Into Gear at Last

A grateful toot of the big-rig air horn to the Ventura County Transportation Commission for getting the long-stalled plans for a truck route to the Port of Hueneme out of idle and into gear. The agency recently agreed to oversee construction of the final piece of a $70-million project to route large cargo trucks off city streets by linking the Ventura Freeway directly with the port.

The result should ease a bottleneck that constricts potential business at the fast-growing port. More important, it should improve safety and the quality of life for residents of Oxnard and Port Hueneme by redirecting the 250 trucks a day that now rumble over city streets--mainly along Victoria Avenue, Ventura Road and Oxnard Boulevard.

The new truck corridor would extend Rice Avenue nearly a mile through cropland from Pacific Coast Highway to Hueneme Road and upgrade Rice Avenue interchanges at both PCH and the Ventura Freeway. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2003, with costs estimated at nearly $5 million for the one-mile extension (paid by the state and possibly the Oxnard Harbor District), $25 million for the Ventura Freeway interchange (including at least $8 million in Oxnard bond money) and $39.5 million for the PCH interchange (in state and federal money).

The project has been on regional planning maps for at least 15 years, but delayed by a series of problems. Initial funding vanished as state priorities for road construction shifted after the 1994 Northridge earthquake to seismic reinforcement of bridges. Then the local jurisdictional debates slowed progress.

We’re glad to see it ready to move forward at last. But we question Oxnard’s plan to raise its $8 million contribution through assessments against property owners in the Rice Avenue area, the same way the city funded the just completed Rose Avenue interchange. It’s hard to see how the farmers and industries along Rice stand to benefit as much from their project as the big retailers along Rose will profit from theirs.

Nonetheless, we support the project and the city’s intention to make sure truckers use the corridor once it is built. Truckers, port officials and city residents will all be better off if this heavy traffic takes a bypass.