HAPPY COMMUTERS: Next time you’re stuck in...

HAPPY COMMUTERS: Next time you’re stuck in Ventura County traffic, take comfort in knowing it’s even worse for other Southern California commuters (B1). And now it’s easier to get through one of the county’s busiest intersections: Telephone Road and Victoria Avenue in Ventura. Work is nearly finished on a $1-million project to provide two left-turn lanes in each direction. “It’s a beautiful intersection,” said Robert Yalda, a city traffic engineeer. . . . Next project: Victoria and the Ventura Freeway, a real commuter nightmare.

GREAT INDOORS: A Camarillo firm has a lot riding on this weekend’s soccer match between England and Germany. It’s not who wins that’s important; it’s how well Pacific Sod’s grass performs in the Pontiac Silverdome. . . .If all goes well, World Cup matches will be played indoors next year for the first time, Pacific Sod Chairman Richard Rogers said. Refrigerated trucks hauled the grass to Michigan.

FUR’S FLYING: In his blistering op-ed piece last week--the one calling on Republicans to dump Gov. Pete Wilson next year--former Assemblyman Tom McClintock said his Persian cat would make a better candidate. But some think the Thousand Oaks conservative has someone else in mind: himself. . . . McClintock won’t say whether he’ll run. “There’s a range of very fine candidates,” he said. Simi Valley consultant Steve Frank is betting against a McClintock bid. “I don’t think he feels he could put together a statewide race.”

SUCCESS STORY: In Ventura County, the term affordable housing is almost a contradiction in terms. But since 1981, Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. has built more than 600 affordable homes, including a new 21-unit complex in Ojai (B1). . . . “The support we’re getting from local government has increased,” said Cabrillo director Rodney Fernandez. “We’ve got a track record now.” In the works: projects in Simi Valley and Oxnard.

Red Light Zones

Ventura County’s busiest surface street intersections: City: Vehicles per day Oxnard (Oxnard Blvd./Vineyard Ave.): 67,500 Ventura (Victoria Ave./Telephone Rd.): 63,200 Simi Valley (Madera Rd./Royal Ave.): 61,000 Thousand Oaks (Westlake Blvd./Thousand Oaks Blvd.): 49,000 Camarillo (Santa Rosa Rd./Adolfo Rd.): 41,850 Source: Caltrans, city traffic departments