For Safety, Mobility, Outdated Bridge Must Be Replaced

A few months ago, the cities of Oxnard and Ventura reached a historic accord when they agreed to drop lawsuits and end a 15-year legal battle over regional redevelopment and land-use planning. This has led to a newfound spirit of cooperation and a strong desire for our two cities to work together on regional problems.

The most important dilemma facing Ventura County is massive freeway congestion along U.S. Highway 101, which paralyzes millions of commuters regularly and affects commerce.

This thoroughfare provides one of the most vital links in California’s highway system. Unfortunately, the 101 forms a bottleneck right at the Santa Clara River Bridge--a six-lane nightmare. As one of the oldest standing roadway structures in California, this bridge has been targeted for widening or replacement for more than 14 years.

Thanks to our joint efforts, the California Transportation Commission, Caltrans Deputy Director Tony Harris, State Sens. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) and Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), and Assembly members Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) and Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), momentum seems to be growing. State Transportation Commissioner Dana Reed recently toured the bridge and attested to the urgent need to replace the deteriorating structure. Last week, the full commission acknowledged the importance of a new bridge to our regional mobility and public safety and asked Caltrans to report on the progress of its design and construction scheduling.

This is precisely the sort of attention needed to get Ventura commuters what they need and deserve--a safe and well-designed new structure.

Drivers know that the 101 in Ventura County is one of the most heavily traveled sections of freeway in California. Near-gridlock conditions on the bridge have resulted in a substantial increase in the number of accidents. The southbound and northbound lanes (constructed in 1932 and 1968, respectively) were not designed to handle today’s volume of traffic. Even worse, the Oxnard Boulevard “flyover” funnels entering traffic right into the fast lane of the northbound highway. This aspect of the design must be eliminated.

But worsening congestion is not the most urgent problem. Caltrans has closely monitored the bridge’s integrity since its inspectors revealed scour damage from water flows in the Santa Clara River channel. Scour occurs when water removes riverbed sediment and rock, undercutting and weakening a bridge’s foundation. This has led to the ever-present specter of a collapse in a major storm.

Everyone should be working together with the goals of improving safety and relieving congestion. Highway 101 is the most traveled north-south transportation route in the region, providing important access for commerce and tourism not only for Ventura County but also for the counties surrounding us. Vigilant maintenance and expansion of this route are vital to the regional and state economy. If the bridge were closed to traffic, the 150,000 daily trips across it would have to be rerouted to the three other smaller bridges in the area, resulting in a virtual shutdown of the county’s transportation system.

Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration, the Ventura County Transportation Commission and our two cities have been working to replace this bridge. Funding has been identified, but for many reasons the schedule has continued to slip.

The state Transportation Commission should take a bow for advancing the cause of a new bridge but we encourage the commission to stay its current course and continue tracking the progress of this project. This would keep up the pressure to design and construct a new structure sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, we intend to continue our new level of cooperation by working vigorously with all parties to ensure that a new Santa Clara River Bridge is built as quickly as possible.