Ahmanson Traffic Study Needed

The proposed Ahmanson Ranch development, hotly contested for a decade, would be a lot less controversial if the 10,000 people expected to live there would simply stay in their houses. Unfortunately, most of them are expected to get into cars several times a day and cruise off onto busy San Fernando Valley roads and freeways--and there’s the rub.

Traffic projections used by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors when it approved the planned community in 1992 are now being questioned by the county next door. Los Angeles County officials say the figures understate the impact on the already-crowded Ventura Freeway by 20% or more. For example, along the Ventura Freeway between Lost Hills and Las Virgenes roads, the 1992 Ventura report estimated 218,000 average daily trips in 2010. Los Angeles County, however, projects 274,000 average daily trips. The state Department of Transportation (Caltrans) also has requested an update of Ventura’s 1992 report.

Ventura County officials must decide whether a follow-up environmental report, now being conducted, should include an updated traffic study. We believe it should, and not just because eight years have passed.

The figures in the original report are based on projections from the Southern California Assn. of Governments, which did not include Ahmanson Ranch in its analysis. If this report is intended to describe what impacts Ahmanson Ranch would have on the regional environment, traffic clearly must be taken into account--using the most complete and up-to-date figures available.

The 3,050-home Ahmanson Ranch is a sore point between the two counties. It would be built on rolling grasslands and oaks where Ventura County’s southeastern tip meets Los Angeles County. The development’s property tax revenues would flow into Ventura County; its traffic--however you count it--into Los Angeles County.

We don’t expect any amount of information to eliminate the spirited difference of opinion over Ahmanson Ranch. But the public officials charged with making decisions about it need to do so on the basis of sound and up-to-date information. A new traffic study is needed.