23 Freeway/Truck Traffic

By Keith F. Millhouse

We must work hard now to have Caltrans add and additional two lanes to reduce traffic on the 23. It is time to take action to reduce the unacceptable level of truck traffic on New Los Angeles Ave.

Caltrans presently has plans to add one lane in each direction on the 23 freeway beginning in approximately 2003. As the only candidate who attended the public forum that Caltrans held on the issue, I questioned why only one lane was being added. I was told that the Caltrans engineers had determined that one additional lane would meet the needs of the area for the next 20 years.

As anyone who takes that freeway knows, one lane will be grossly insufficient to eliminate the overcrowding. It is time for us to take action now. Failure to do so will mean we will be stuck with the Caltrans decsion for the next 20 years. I will demand that the freeway have four lanes in each direction and will lobby hard to speed up the start date for the project.

Truck Traffic.

If you have been around Moorpark for some time, you know that I brought the issue of truck traffic to the forefront of discussion during the 1998 election. 2 years later, nothing has been done to reduce the level of trucks coming through our community. The two incumbents running for re-election will only tell you why things can't be done or talk about a pie-in-the-sky bypass; millions of dollars and tens of years from reality.

I believe we can do better. I will fight to get funding for a full time inspection station and additional police enforcement of the area. This will eliminate trucks who are taking the route to avoid the inspection stations on other roadways. We must eliminate unsafe trucks before we have a tragedy in our City

From a longer term perspective, we must look to making trucks take alternative, existing roadways. Some of these roadways already exist, others may need to be built. Rather than a bypass that justs shifts the trucks from one area of town to another, we need to explore the extension of the 23 freeway up to Broadway avenue and eventually to the 126. This solution has been on the state highway maps and is the longer term solution.

We must address the truck traffic issue with short-term and long-term solutions. The incumbents have had four years to address the problem and have failed. It is time to elect a leader who will get action taken.