Fix the Intersection, Build a Bypass

A countywide referendum on whether to fix a traffic bottleneck in the Las Posas Valley is a pointless dodge that only reinforces a false choice: Should we accept perpetual gridlock on California 118 or should we wipe out the historic downtown of tiny Somis?

The obvious answer: Neither. But that option will get no support from the referendum proposed by Ventura County Supervisor Judy Mikels and backed last week by Supervisors Susan Lacey and Kathy Long.

Thanks to the board’s 3-2 vote, voters throughout the county will be asked in November whether Caltrans should proceed with plans to improve the intersection of California 118 and Somis Road (also known as California 34).

Caltrans’ proposed “improvement” is so massive that some area residents view it as a harbinger of imminent four-laning of both roads--a death knell for scenic Somis.

The irony is that nearly everyone agrees that the intersection must be fixed, and soon. Of all the questions that might be put to a vote, that one is the least controversial. There is also widespread agreement that the little community of Somis should be left alone. A bypass proposed by area residents would accomplish that goal, solve the intersection problem and put this whole angry affair to rest.

So why aren’t the supervisors leaning on Caltrans to build the bypass?

We applaud Somis area residents’ passionate defense of their town from the effects of having its main street four-laned. Their opposition has been a model of persistent, active citizenship. They are the main reason a win-win alternative exists.

Nonetheless, we reject their assertion that this is purely a local issue. California 118 is one of three east-west thoroughfares across Ventura County, the only one that remains two-lane. To suggest, as some area residents do, that trucks be banned from 118 and that it be kept two-lane forever is unfair to the people who live along the other two routes: California 126 and the Ventura Freeway.

We believe the time will someday come when California 118 needs to be widened to handle its share of cross-county traffic, even though commuters who drive this stretch between Simi Valley / Moorpark and Camarillo / Oxnard / Ventura are ideally situated to use the Metrolink trains. We believe the bypass plan would do much to keep this eventuality from destroying the rural ambience of the Las Posas Valley.

Putting issues such as this to a nonbinding public vote is merely a way for elected officials to avoid making tough decisions. But in this case, no tough decision is needed. Just do what nearly everyone agrees needs to be done: Fix the intersection and build the bypass.

We invite our elected leaders to take charge and make it happen. That’s what they were elected to do.