Widening of Interchange Considered : Ventura Freeway: Council Monday will vote on a Caltrans proposal aimed at unclogging one of the most congested areas in Ventura.

In an effort to unclog one of the city’s most congested intersections, the Ventura City Council will vote Monday on Caltrans’ latest proposal to widen the Seaward Avenue-Ventura Freeway interchange.

As drafted by the California Department of Transportation, the expanded interchange would replace an older proposal to build an on-ramp a quarter of a mile away at Peninsula Street, which was dropped because of neighborhood opposition. The council vote would pave the way for Caltrans to begin work on the project, estimated to cost $7.7 million.

City traffic engineer Nazir Lalani said the widened intersection would include state-of-the-art video surveillance equipment that would eventually allow the intersection to control itself, adjusting green-light times by automatically “seeing” how many cars are backed up at the lights.

If approved, construction is scheduled to begin in 1997 on the project, which would increase the number of lanes on the Seaward Avenue bridge over the freeway from five to eight. Plans also call for adding two lanes to the northbound Ventura Freeway off-ramp and to northbound Harbor Boulevard at Seaward Avenue, and for adding another left-turn lane to southbound Harbor Boulevard at Seaward Avenue.

Caltrans spokesman Rick Holland said construction should be completed two years after it begins. The work would be done in stages, and the interchange would never be completely closed, Holland said.

City officials said the plan to widen the Seaward Avenue interchange can be completed faster and at a lower cost to the city than the construction of a new on-ramp at Peninsula Street, as was initially proposed. The Peninsula Street plan would have required the city to acquire a new right of way and complete an environmental impact report, delaying construction and risking loss of state funding.

Peninsula Street residents support the new plan, which removes the threat of a new on-ramp bringing additional traffic to their street.

“I’m really pleased with it,” resident Jim Clark said. “It’s by far the better way to go.”

Doubletree Hotel manager John Walters said he initially favored the Peninsula Street alternative, but now supports the plan to widen the Seaward Avenue interchange. He said he is pleased that construction will be completed three to five years sooner under the revised plan.

“Traffic trying to get down to the beaches and the harbor is obviously very congested and we welcome every improvement,” Walters said.

In addition to expanding the interchange, the City Council resolution provides for enclosing drainage ditches that are now open along the freeway. Parking on Harbor Boulevard would be forbidden from Seaward Avenue to 1,000 feet east of the intersection, and the Seaward Avenue bridge would be fortified to withstand a sizable earthquake.

The project includes high-tech electronics along with the steel and concrete. City traffic engineer Lalani said video cameras mounted on the traffic lights at the interchange would allow the city to monitor the intersection and adjust the timing of the lights from minute to minute.

It will be about 10 years before a computer program allows the video image of the intersection to control the traffic lights with no human intervention, Lalani predicted. In the meantime, video monitoring will allow traffic officials to detect and correct problems before residents complain, he said.

Interchange Expansion Proposed changes to Seaward Avenue / Ventura Freeway interchange and Harbor Boulevard. Changes: 1. Add two lanes. 2. Widen bridge to eight lanes. 3. Add left-turn lane. 4. Add two lanes.