Help stop activists from preventing the widening of Highway 118

Will widening Highway 118 bring about the destruction of Somis?

According to Save Our Somis, Caltrans wants to eliminate this rural town and put in a major freeway connection through Highway 34/ Somis Road. However, the proposed freeway for the Las Posas Valley has been on the books since the 1950s.

In an age of state budget crunches this just is not going to happen. But does that make any difference to Save Our Somis? No.

They have sued yet again, this time the county of Ventura, to remove any and all language in the General Plan to widen and improve Highway 118. The Planning Commission has already folded, and if we remain silent the Board of Supervisors is going to rubber stamp the commission's latest decision or face having SOS renew their lawsuit.

Because of Save Our Somis, a small clique of less than 50 shortsighted individuals living in the Las Posas Valley, there will be no improvements on Highway 118/Los Angeles Avenue without a costly and unnecessary Environmental Impact Report, let alone the threat of more litigation.

We can't even get a traffic signal at the intersection of the 118 and Balcom Canyon Road, where there were a number of devastating accidents last year, without overcoming the "road blocks" Save Our Somis has put in the way.

What does this mean in the end? Widening the road aside, if SOS goes on unopposed, there will be no passing lanes, no slowtraffic turnouts, no deceleration or acceleration lanes, no renovation to inadequate intersections, no improvements whatsoever on this hazardous and overcrowded road because there will be no political will to fix the 118.

If you use Highway 118 between the city of Moorpark and Santa Clara Avenue or care about safety and the ever-increasing costs of transporting to market agricul- tural products, please attend the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, May 8, at 1:30 p.m. and support renovating this thoroughfare. If you can't attend, please contact your supervisor. Speak up and have your voice heard now. Debra Tash Somis