State Gives Ventura County $11 Million for Road Works

State officials arrived in Ventura on Monday to award more than $11 million to Ventura County to repair streets, improve traffic safety and ease freeway gridlock.

The money, part of $1.3 billion in Proposition 42 state gas tax revenue reinstated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and approved by the Legislature last month, will restart several stalled projects. These include repaving the 101 Freeway near Ventura and installing concrete reinforcements near storm-battered Santa Ana Road southwest of Ojai.

Smaller projects include expansion of a parking lot at the Oxnard train station and traffic-safety grants for Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura.

The money, represented by a mock check, was presented to business and elected leaders by Barry Sedlik, undersecretary for the state’s Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

“We’re very happy to come to Ventura and provide the county’s share,” he told the gathering at a Ventura hotel.

The state money comes days after Congress approved major transportation funding that includes billions of dollars for projects in California, including more than $12 million for Ventura County projects.

Money from Proposition 42 had been diverted to help pay off state budget deficits. This is the first year the funds have been allocated in full since the measure was passed in 2002.

Local officials said they were eager to put any transportation funding to good use.

“Our [transportation] infrastructure has been neglected for decades,” said Kathy Long, chairwoman of the county Board of Supervisors. “We are not ahead of the curve. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”