Highway Safety Measures Sought Near La Conchita

In the wake of a third fatal crash in the past year, people who live and work on a scenic stretch of Highway 101 north of Ventura are redoubling efforts to convince the state to make the roadway safer.

Since 1994, more than 120 people have been injured and four people killed on three miles of highway connecting the communities of Mussel Shoals and La Conchita, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The latest fatality occurred 10 days ago, when a 30-year-old rock singer was killed turning onto the highway from Mussel Shoals. James Lynn Strait’s car was broadsided by a car heading south.

While residents try to focus attention on the highway, state officials say they have been studying the problem and expect to release a report next month that will address possible solutions.

Over the last five years, area residents have written scores of letters and made dozens of phone calls to transportation officials, only to be told there was no money for safety improvements.

“I think they have to have a blood alley such as [Highway] 126 before they will do something,” longtime La Conchita resident Warren Bateman said.

On Highway 126--30 miles of asphalt between Santa Paula and Santa Clarita known for years as “Blood Alley”--the state initiated a road-widening project and reduced speed limits after statistics showed that 49 deaths and 825 injuries occurred there between 1990 and 1995.

Traffic deaths have declined dramatically since the improvements began three years ago.

“If the state would only do some of what they did on 126 on the 101, it would be better than nothing,” Bateman said.

Most crashes on both highways have been caused by driver error, such as speeding, falling asleep or drunk driving, says the CHP. On the small stretch of Highway 101, though, there is another contributor: Two intersections interrupt the swift-moving freeway traffic.

The intersections are gaps in the center divider that allow drivers to turn into Mussel Shoals, an upscale beach community, and La Conchita, a village one mile farther north that drew national attention when a mudslide inundated the neighborhood of moderately priced bungalows in 1995. To make their turns, however, drivers must try to find break in the busy north-south traffic.

The intersections at La Conchita and Mussel Shoals, the location of the popular Cliff House hotel and restaurant, are the only places in Ventura County where drivers may turn across oncoming freeway traffic. Over the years, a number of drivers have failed to negotiate those turns.

Authorities said that Strait, the lead singer of the rock band Snot, was killed Dec. 11 when his car was broadsided by one driven by David Redderson, who was heading south on the 101.

Redderson, 20, was going about 65 mph when Strait pulled in front of him, CHP officers said. Strait died instantly; Redderson suffered only bumps and abrasions.

“I think something more should definitely be done, whether it’s more warning signs or something else,” Redderson said later. “How many more lives are they going to [lose] before they do what is warranted?”

Redderson, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, frequently travels the road to visit family in Ventura and Orange counties. He believes drivers pulling out of Mussel Shoals need signs and blinking lights to warn of oncoming traffic.

Similar to the Strait case, Florence Temple was killed Nov. 21, 1997, while trying to turn out of Mussel Shoals, where she had been celebrating her 79th birthday with lunch at the Cliff House.

Then on Aug. 25, Santa Barbara Rabbi Martin Ballonoff, 51, was killed when he lost control of his car. It careened through the gap in the guardrail at Mussel Shoals into the southbound lanes.

After that crash, many residents complained that the intersections in both Mussel Shoals and La Conchita should be sealed off.

But not everyone agrees. Cliff House owner Sanford Porter, a 20-year Mussel Shoals resident, has circulated a letter to his neighbors asking them to contact officials and demand other improvements instead.

He suggests reducing the speed limit from 65 mph to 55 mph. Construction of an overpass in Mussel Shoals that would also allow access to La Conchita would help, he says.

Closing the Mussel Shoals intersection would only serve to slow emergency vehicles called to the area, Porter says.

Some have suggested that, at the least, the state should install blinking lights and warning signs in the center divider at the turnoffs.

“I think everyone in the community is concerned. We are the ones who are standing out there after these needless crashes happen,” Porter said. “It’s really sad because there are probably going to be some more fatalities before something happens. I just hope it’s not a big family that gets plowed into.”

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As far back as 1970, the state had plans to give La Conchita its own onramps and offramps. But the idea died for lack of funding, residents said. Unofficial cost estimates for a new interchange have topped $15 million.

Residents’ complaints have reached elected officials, who are also struggling to deal with the problem.

“We’ve been working with Caltrans and pushing them,” said Gavin Payne, chief of staff for state Sen. Jack O’Connell, whose 18th District includes western Ventura County.

In September, O’Connell and then-state Assemblyman Brooks Firestone wrote a letter to the California Department of Transportation requesting an investigation into the controversial stretch of the 101.

Tony V. Harris, a district director for the transportation department, promised officials a report by Nov. 30. It hasn’t arrived.

“Staff is in the process of evaluating all the alternatives,” said Presley Burroughs, a spokesman for Caltrans, a division of the state transportation office.

Burroughs said Caltrans executives met with elected officials and residents to discuss the highway, and a written analysis of solutions will be released in January.

Another public meeting is also planned for the same month, he said.

“With the support of the local residents and elected officials, I feel confident that something may happen out there,” Burroughs added. He declined to say what, or when.