CAMARILLO : Park-and-Ride Lot for Car-Pools to Open

Caltrans officials on Monday announced they will open a new park-and-ride lot in Camarillo on Thursday to offer another location for car-pools and help relieve traffic congestion into Los Angeles following the Northridge earthquake.

“It’s a vital necessity now,” said Patricia Reid, a Caltrans spokeswoman. The new lot, which is located just south of the Ventura Freeway on Pleasant Valley Road, is designed to be a staging area for car-pools and van-pools.

It will be the 18th park-and-ride facility in Ventura County, Reid said.

The new lot has 140 parking spaces and special area for locking bicycles. The park-and-ride lot will be lighted and open 24 hours a day, but has yet to receive bus service, Reid said.

“For those who car-pool or van-pool, this will make it easier,” Tricia Price, regional manager of Commuter Transportation Services, a division of Caltrans.

Price said she anticipates an increased number of Ventura County residents will car-pool to work because of increased traffic on the Ventura Freeway following the earthquake.

Camarillo has one other park-and-ride at Las Posas Road and the Ventura Freeway, which Camarillo City Manager Bill Little said has been helpful and well-used.

Little said the city realized a new facility was necessary after receiving numerous complaints from residents in the Pleasant Valley area saying commuters were parking on their residential streets in the morning to catch car-pools or van-pools.

The new park-and-ride lot cost $197,400 to construct and was jointly built by Caltrans and the city of Camarillo. The city paid for the design and Caltrans paid for construction, she said. Caltrans will operate the facility.

The park-and-ride lot’s grand opening will be at 10 a.m. Thursday.