Ventura County to Lobby for Transportation Projects

VENTURA COUNTY — Saying Ventura County is not getting its fair share of highway dollars, county transportation officials are vowing to intensify lobbying of area legislators and Gov. Gray Davis to include more local projects in the state’s $5.2-billion transportation budget.

The county was informed in April that it would receive about $18 million for transportation projects, including $15 million to move the traffic-choked Ventura Freeway offramp at California Street in Ventura.

But the county’s two top-priority projects--widening Lewis Road between the Ventura Freeway and the Cal State Channel Islands campus and revamping an interchange at the junction of California 23 and the Ventura Freeway--were not included in the funding plan.

Officials said they will approach each of the area’s five legislators but may focus on Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks), in whose district both projects are situated, and Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-Santa Barbara), who has taken the lead in promoting the new university.