Drivers to Face Oxnard Detours

The northbound Oxnard Boulevard connector to the Ventura Freeway will be closed starting Monday, part of a $112-million overhaul of the congested interchange that is expected to cause further traffic delays until the project is complete.

Traffic will be rerouted along other onramps south of the Oxnard interchange, at least until the end of the year when Caltrans officials expect to open one northbound and one southbound lane of the new overpass.

A new four-lane bridge that will carry traffic from Oxnard Boulevard -- which also serves as California 1 through Oxnard -- is scheduled for completion in mid-2004, officials said.

In addition to a new overpass, the project calls for improving a two-mile stretch of the Ventura Freeway that extends from Vineyard Avenue to Johnson Drive and includes construction of a new six-lane bridge over the Santa Clara River.

When the entire project is finished in 2006, the California Department of Transportation said, traffic should flow smoothly through an area paralyzed by gridlock in recent years.

Without the project, officials expected things to quickly get worse. The 2,800-home RiverPark mini-city will be built just north of the freeway, and the nearby Esplanade shopping center has become a destination for bargain hunters countywide.

“We’re trying to improve traffic flow,” said Dan Freeman, Caltrans chief of construction for Ventura and northern Los Angeles counties. “That’s what this was designed to do.”

But some drivers cried foul Wednesday as Caltrans officials announced the closure, saying overtaxed surface streets already are jammed with cars, and detours will make matters worse.

“It’s not a common-sense approach,” said Elias Banales, an Oxnard resident who works in Santa Barbara. “People are going to be very frustrated when they find out about it. Traffic here is already ungodly.”

Drivers traveling north on Oxnard Boulevard will be diverted along three routes approved by Oxnard city officials. The detours will take motorists along Vineyard Avenue, Gonzales Road, Rose Avenue and Town Center Drive to the freeway.

Up to 1,500 vehicles an hour use the Oxnard Boulevard overpass onto the northbound Ventura Freeway during rush hour, city officials said. But motorists on the freeway will also be affected by the closure, which could slow traffic even more, Caltrans officials acknowledged.

When the new overpass is completed, drivers will be able to access both northbound and southbound lanes of the freeway from Oxnard Boulevard. Caltrans officials expect to have one northbound and one southbound lane of the overpass open to traffic by Dec. 31.

To absorb detoured vehicles that will be pouring onto the freeway from streets, Caltrans also plans to open a third lane of traffic on the freeway’s northbound lanes by mid-May.