Casitas Springs Bypass Campaign

* Re “Can Drive-By Poetry Speed Up Casitas Bypass?” Ventura County Life, Dec. 31.

In our campaign for a Casitas Springs bypass we are finding an undercurrent of bias from other segments of the county, a feeling that Casitas Springs folks are second-class citizens. This bias is so pervasive that we have come to realize that it is probably the major reason that we do not have an alternative to the highway in our front yard.

A little history might help provide perspective. In the mid-1960s, a four-lane was proposed to bypass Casitas Springs. At the last minute, the Ojai City Council shot it down, believing that a highway would promote unwanted growth.

Virtually nobody outside Casitas Springs felt that there was reason to complain that one community was making decisions for another. And so we’ve been waiting since the mid-’60s.

Caltrans’ 1998 traffic counts recorded 28,000 cars per day passing through Casitas Springs, with a peak of 2,700 in one hour. Bumper to bumper, a caravan of 28,000 cars would stretch all the way to Los Angeles International Airport. Daily!

We are only talking about a 1.75-mile, two-lane bypass. Caltrans insists on a four-lane of nearly twice that long all the way to Oak View.

We have an extremely dangerous road running through our wonderful community. We love this place. We are tired of this un-American classism aimed at us. We want a simple bypass that could run almost without dislocation.

It is a very simple solution to a very severe situation for 1,121 Ventura County citizens, and we would appreciate it if The Times would take the problem seriously.

STEVE DURFEE

Casitas Springs