2-Mile Climbing Lane on Freeway Dedicated

Saying it will significantly reduce traffic congestion on the westbound Simi Valley Freeway, officials from Ventura and Los Angeles counties on Monday dedicated a two-mile climbing lane for trucks from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the top of Santa Susana Pass.

Don Duncan, a Caltrans spokesman, said the three-lane freeway at Santa Susana Pass now handles about 52,000 vehicles a day.

The climbing lane, which ends at Rocky Peak Road in Ventura County, was built at the steepest portion of the freeway where major traffic jams result when trucks are forced by the grade to slow to a crawl.

The $1.3-million freeway-improvement project began in October.

“I think we’re going to find that hundreds of thousands of motorists are going to come home a little less irritable because they are not going to have to go through this bottleneck,” said Simi Valley council member Vicky Howard.