COMMUTER OPINIONS SOUGHT OFFICIALS SEEKING INPUT FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO HIGHWAY 118.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

MOORPARK - Commuters who use the 16-mile stretch of Highway 118 between Moorpark and Saticoy will be surveyed next month to gather opinions on how to fix congestion and improve safety on the collision-plagued road.

The survey for the Ventura County Transportation Commission is part of long-term planning for the highway and is expected to include a range of questions including changing the two-lane highway into a freeway, said VCTC Executive Director Ginger Gherardi.

``The idea is that it gives us and Caltrans some good guidance in terms of what we propose to do with the corridor, and it's very important for me to mention that whatever the results will be, this is only the beginning of a process for long-term planning on the corridor,'' said Gherardi.

``The likelihood is that improvements may come in on the corridor in segments.''

The $25,000 survey will probably be conducted in early February and the tabulated results presented to the commission about the middle of the month, said Samia Maximous, VCTC's director of highways and planning programs, who is overseeing the survey.

A consultant has been hired to conduct the telephone survey of 400 randomly-called commuters in cities including Oxnard, Simi Valley, Santa Paula, Ojai, Camarillo, Fillmore, parts of Thousand Oaks, Ojai and Moorpark.

However, Barbara Kerkhoff, a board member of Save Our Somis, said the survey will be biased in favor of commuters at the expense of residents living in the Las Posas Valley who want to maintain the area's rural character.

``The reason why they are doing this is they are trying to do an end run around the people of the Las Posas Valley and Somis, that is how I feel,'' said Kerkhoff.

``(VCTC and Caltrans) have no liking for what they have been told.''

Last April, SOS gathered 800 signatures from people who live in the area, asking Caltrans to scale back plans to revamp the junction of Highway 118 and Highway 34 at Somis, saying it would only attract more traffic.

That intersection is a notorious bottleneck that is jammed by commuters mornings and evenings.

Traffic along Highway 118 has been a long-running community debate.

Between January and June 1999, the CHP reported 33 collisions on the highway, 10 of which involved injuries.

Various plans are under way to alter the highway, including a $5 million road alignment proposed by Caltrans, and new bridges. A $150 million Caltrans proposal has been discussed to widen the highway to four lanes.

Gherardi said the survey was simply a chance to gather information about the highway.

``This is just an information-gathering first step for us,'' said Gherardi. ``When you talk about that scale of construction, it's a lot of money and you want to make sure you plan for it appropriately.''