State Plans Project for Ventura Freeway

Reconstruction of a West Valley freeway interchange and construction of a new freeway interchange in Moorpark are among the projects recommended in the state Department of Transportation’s five-year highway plan released Friday.

Recommended by Caltrans is an $18.6-million reconstruction of the Ventura Freeway interchange at Valley Circle Boulevard and Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills.

Also endorsed is construction of a $45.5-million interchange linking California 23 with the Simi Valley Freeway (California 118) near Moorpark, 20 miles west of the San Fernando Valley.

The projects are among 1,600 listed in a $13.4-billion spending plan for highways and freeways that Caltrans presented to the state Transportation Commission, which controls all spending on transportation in California.

The five-year plan is revised each year by the commission, usually in summer.

Projects added this year probably will not be started for at least three years, a Caltrans spokeswoman said.

Final designs have not been approved on either interchange project, the spokeswoman said, but work is under way on environmental impact studies required for both projects.

The Simi Valley Freeway and California 23 end within three miles of one another, east of Moorpark. They are separated by the Arroyo Simi.

Motorists passing from one freeway to the other must travel a winding route through Moorpark streets.