PROJECT TO CHOP, REPLACE 90 TREES; 270 SAPLINGS IN ROAD PLAN.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

Along a segment of the Ventura Freeway that winds its way through Camarillo, the grove of aromatic eucalyptus that years ago secured a place on the state historic registry will lose 90 mature trees but gain 270 fresh saplings.

As part of a joint project with the state to make room for new ramps that will push Flynn Road through to the Ventura Freeway and help mitigate rush-hour traffic in the region, the city of Camarillo will remove a total of 90 eucalyptus trees from the grove.

To make up for the loss, however, city officials said they will begin restoring the missing evergreens in the coming months with three new trees for each plant removed for the project.

``We will replace some of the trees in the grove that had died over the years and also extend the grove to plant additional trees,'' said Daniel Greeley, director of engineering services for the city of Camarillo.

The California Transportation Commission applied its stamp of approval to the environmental impact report at its monthly meeting in Sacramento on Wednesday, approving the preservation and restoration of the trees.

The city of Camarillo began construction work in the area in August to give better and more direct access into the Flynn industrial area, where a number of high-technology and other companies have settled in recent years, Greeley said. The $1.9 million project funded by a local assessment district is expected to be completed this year.

The plan is part of a joint project with the state that has been in the works for nearly 20 years. Once the Flynn Road ramps are completed, the state plans on closing the nearby - and overburdened - Dawson Road off-ramp, which links traffic to Lewis Road and Highway 34.

That project, which will cost the state's Transportation Department $23 million, will reconstruct the interchange between the Ventura Freeway and Highway 34.

Since 1980, Greeley said, the state has discussed the possibility of reworking the Highway 34 interchange to more effectively link the Ventura Freeway with Highway 118 to the north.

``Traffic has increased to a point that now this has become a priority project for the state and the city,'' Greeley said.

The two projects were included in one environmental impact report, which was approved in mid-1997 and sanctioned again by the California Transportation Commission on Wednesday.

The $23 million state project is expected to begin in 1999 and to be completed within 18 to 24 months.

For California State University, Channel Islands, expected to open its doors in January 1999 and expand to full capacity in the next five years, news of the highway and ramp improvements was welcomed.

``For the next three or four years, the traffic circulation system available is probably adequate. But at some point in the future we could probably use such improvements,'' said George Dutra, director of facilities planning for CSU Channel Islands.

``Any effort to improve the region's traffic circulation is certainly welcome,'' he said.

The California Transportation Commission also approved the environmental impact report for a $39.5 million project funded through the State Transportation Improvement Program to relocate and reconstruct the Pleasant Valley Road interchange of the Ventura Freeway and to construct the Rice Avenue extension to Hueneme Road.

State Transportation administrators and Oxnard city officials intend the project to relieve congestion, reduce crashes and allow easier access to Port Hueneme, said Pat Reid, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation.

Funded by state and local dollars, the project is expected to get under way by the year 2000 and to require two years for completion, she said.