BILL TO GET CITIES ON ROAD TO REPAIR; AREA TRANSPORTATION PLANS TO RECEIVE $36.6 MILLION.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

With President Clinton expected to sign off this week on an extensive transportation bill, area cities are eagerly anticipating a $36.6 million windfall to begin freeway expansion and road repairs.

About $10.5 million is earmarked for the much anticipated expansion of the 23 Freeway, a four-lane freeway linking the Ronald Reagan Freeway in Moorpark to the Ventura Freeway in Thousand Oaks that often leaves commuters in rush-hour bottlenecks.

``This road expansion has been at the top of my wish list for the last few years. The 23 is a great connection, but if you make that trip in the morning it's dead still,'' said Simi Valley council member Bill Davis.

Area officials had planned for years to add a lane in each direction, but lacked the $39 million for the project.

``Something needs to get done and the funding has been tough to get, so I'm very pleased these federal funds made it,'' he said.

An additional $24 million will come from a state program to help fund the expansion.

The transportation bill, the largest federal public works bill in history, totaled more than $200 billion for projects across the country ranging from new ferry boats for Staten Island in New York, to bicycle paths and hiking trails in California, and promises to make possible a host of local projects that otherwise would have been left with uncertain funding.

The $466,000 designated for Oak Park, for instance, is more than half the money needed to complete road resurfacing, repair and improvement projects proposed by the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

And in Agoura Hills, the $625,000 designated for street improvements finally could allow the city to begin design work and permit applications for a long-awaited $6 million expansion of the Kanan Road interchange with the Ventura Freeway, said City Manager Dave Adams.

``The traffic has simply gotten a lot worse as the area has grown and that interchange gets backed up,'' he said.

``The price tag has been just so big we couldn't tackle it. But the interchange project has risen to a point in this community that it has taken top priority,'' Adams said, adding that a public workshop to discuss some of the design options for the intersection has been tentatively planned in June or July.

Thousand Oaks will get $1.25 million for various street and highway projects to be designed by the City Council, with an additional $625,000 designated to complete the city's bicycle path plan.

In Westlake Village, a $236,000 allocation will extend the city's only off-road bicycle path - built along Lindero Canyon Road away from vehicle traffic and separately from the system of bike lanes on city streets. The path currently runs from Thousand Oaks to Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park.

``We are now concentrating on extending the path to Via Colina, and the funding made available through Washington is going to cover the design and construction costs as well as the adjacent landscaping,'' said City Manager Ray Taylor, adding that the bike path is part of the city's beautification project along Lindero Canyon Road.

Additionally, the transportation bill will include, for the first time, money for local trail systems - specifically, $6 million to secure land in the Santa Monica Mountains on which the National Park Service plans to build hiking trails.

``One of the things I am most satisfied about is having been able to convince the (Transportation Conference) Committee that hiking is transportation,'' said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, who with Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Oxnard, is credited with securing millions in local funding.

PROJECTS

$The transportation bill approved by Congress last week could bring more than $36.6 million to Ventura County and Conejo Valley area projects:

$16.8 million for the Ventura Freeway interchange at Rice Avenue outside Oxnard to better accommodate increased traffic flowing into Port Hueneme.

$10.5 million to expand the 23 Freeway linking Moorpark and Simi Valley to Thousand Oaks and the Ventura Freeway.

$6 million to secure land and build hiking trails in the Santa Monica Mountains.

$1.25 million for street and highway projects in Thousand Oaks with an additional $625,000 to complete the city's bike-path plan.

$750,000 for street improvements and bicycle paths in Calabasas.

$650,000 for the construction of bicycle paths and street improvements in Agoura Hills.

$466,000 for street improvements and bicycle paths in Oak Park.

$236,000 for bicycle paths and street improvements in Westlake Village.

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