Caltrans Reopens Ventura Freeway Near Seacliff After Repairing Sag

State highway crews reopened a section of the Ventura Freeway near Seacliff after finishing repairs Wednesday, two days after it had nearly collapsed in heavy rains.

But while storms have swelled the season’s rainfall total to just under eight inches, prevailing Santa Ana wind conditions are expected to keep Ventura County warm, dry and breezy through the weekend, said Terry Schaeffer, a meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Service.

Runoff from the steady rains undermined the hard-packed soil beneath the Ventura Freeway 1 1/2 miles north of Ventura, causing it to sag, according to officials at the California Department of Transportation.

Motorists Monday afternoon told the California Highway Patrol that a severe dip was developing in two of the freeway’s three southbound lanes.

Caltrans engineers shut down the two lanes, forcing all southbound traffic through the remaining lane closest to the ocean so they could rebuild a 100-by-40-foot segment of the freeway and median.

The engineers originally believed that rain runoff from a leaking drainage pipe had eroded the roadbed, repeating damage done to the freeway during heavy rains in 1969, said Steve Galluzzo, a Caltrans spokesman.

But after digging 20 feet down, engineers found a standing pool of water two feet deep, indicating that runoff flowing under the road had seeped in through the earth on the median and shoulder, he said.

Workers packed 1,000 pounds of rock, dirt, asphalt and other base materials into the hole, Galluzzo said.

By Wednesday afternoon, they had finished grading and repaving the surface, and they reopened the southbound lanes at 3:50 p.m., Galluzzo said.

Traffic moved smoothly through the one-lane bottleneck while the work went on. However, it backed up during the rainstorms and rush hour, Galluzzo said.

“We’ve been really surprised there hasn’t been too much of a problem with that,” Galluzzo said Wednesday of the freeway traffic. “It’s moved pretty smoothly, and the good weather today helped.”

With Santa Ana winds blowing across the county, “we’re going to be in a dry pattern at least through the weekend, if not through early next week,” Schaeffer said.

He said the temperature will reach the low 70s today, with winds starting to weaken after peaking by midday today.