Port’s Truck Route Clears Last Roadblock

Removing one last roadblock, the Ventura County Transportation Commission has 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 of Hueneme.

As things are now, about 250 big rigs a day rumble over Oxnard and Port Hueneme streets to and from the port--principally on Victoria Avenue, Ventura Road and Oxnard Boulevard.

But after years of discussion, the Transportation Commission has decided to finally change that by acting as the lead local agency in extending Rice Avenue nearly one mile through cropland from Pacific Coast Highway to Hueneme Road.

That extension--plus new Rice Avenue interchanges at both PCH and the Ventura Freeway--will complete by the end of 2003 a truck corridor intended to absorb the spiraling traffic load from the fast-growing Hueneme port, officials said.

“I’m glad to see it,” port Executive Director Bill Buenger said. “In the past, the whole process was kind of like a political octopus with a lot of tentacles but no head.”

At its June 4 meeting, the Transportation Commission took charge of the final leg, letting the city of Oxnard and Oxnard Harbor District off the hook.

“Who was going to take responsibility had been a big problem,” said Ginger Gherardi, the commission’s executive director. “We got to the point where it was necessary to have a lead agency.”

Gherardi said a new state law also makes it clear that the Transportation Commission should be in charge of construction projects on local roads outside city limits, such as the Rice extension. So, with the Transportation Commission in the lead, all key elements for completion of the so-called Rice Avenue Truck Corridor are in place.

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

“This project has now gone from a wish list to a reality,” said Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who helped secure $8.9 million in federal funds for the project in 1991 and another $16.8 million last year. “This is the first time we’ve seen a real light at the end of the tunnel.”

The project consists of three parts: a $25-million interchange at the Ventura Freeway that includes at least $8 million in Oxnard bond money; an interchange at PCH constructed with $39.5 million in state and federal money; and nearly $5 million for the one-mile extension paid by the state and possibly the Oxnard Harbor District.

The Harbor Commission is considering a Transportation Commission request for $2 million to help pay for the final leg.

Gherardi said the port previously promised the $2 million. But port officials say they’ve only agreed to make a contribution based on the amount of traffic flowing onto Rice Avenue out of the port once construction is done.

“And we’ve never made that calculation,” Buenger said, “because this thing has been dragging on for a lifetime.”

Gherardi said the project’s final leg will be done by the end of 2003 and that another round of state funds will cover the port’s $2-million obligation, if necessary.

Oxnard city officials, meanwhile, said that completion of the Rice Avenue corridor will be a huge plus.

“Right now, it’s too much heavy traffic for surface streets,” Councilman Dean Maulhardt said. “It’s both a traffic problem and a street maintenance problem. It’s something we could live with in the short term but not in the long term.”

The city’s $8-million contribution for the Ventura Freeway interchange will be funded through taxes assessed against property owners in the Rice Avenue area, he said. The same method was used to construct the newly completed Rose Avenue interchange, he said.

Once the truck corridor is finished, Maulhardt said, he expects the city to push new restrictions on truck traffic on city streets. Those big rigs bound for the port would have to take the new route or be subject to a fine, he said.

“There’s no reason to have these trucks on surface streets,” Maulhardt said. “And if it takes new rules to do that, I’ll support it.”