Fillmore Seeks to Put Brakes on Truck Traffic

Hundreds of gravel trucks rumble up to Fillmore’s busiest intersection each morning, forming a noisy, dust-spewing line that stretches two blocks long.

The trucks already pose a safety risk for schoolchildren trying to cross Highway 23 where it meets Highway 126, Fillmore officials say. And the danger will grow if the gravel operators’ request to double the number of truck trips is approved, several speakers told the Ventura County Board of Supervisors at a special meeting in Fillmore this week.

“This is a burden that should be shared more evenly by the residents of this county,” Fillmore native John Scoles said.

The problem, officials say, is that the county likely will not allow any new truck traffic from Grimes Canyon mining operations to flow south from Highway 23 to heavily traveled Highway 118 in Moorpark. Too many trucks already travel that route, officials say.

That means the brunt of expansion plans proposed by three mining operations could fall on Fillmore to the north, said county planning manager Pat Richards.

Best Rock, Grimes Rock and Wayne J Sand & Gravel, three of the five mining operations that work in Grimes Canyon, are asking to increase truck traffic to a combined 1,576 trips a day, up from the 776 currently permitted.

Quarry operators recently completed a traffic analysis that is being circulated for comments by Fillmore and Moorpark, said Gene Hosford, a consultant for Best Rock. In coming months, they will ask the county’s Planning Commission to approve their proposal, he said.

More truck traffic is necessary to keep up with the county’s demand for sand, gravel, rock and other aggregate used in building and road projects, Hosford said. If the county denies the request, materials would have to be hauled from Palmdale and Lancaster, he said.

“The trip is four or five times as long, and that’s more exposure to safety concerns,” Hosford said.

But Fillmore leaders say their city will bear too big an onus and have put supervisors on notice that they will fight any expansion plan that does not include measures to lessen traffic effects.

Mayor Don Gunderson said mine operators should be asked to pay for a school crossing guard to shepherd children across the street and for maintenance workers to clean up the dust and gravel that accumulates along Highway 23.

The intersection with Highway 126 should also be upgraded to handle more traffic and repaired when the heavy trucks carve grooves in the asphalt, Gunderson said. But the biggest concession needed, city leaders say, is to divert some of the projected traffic away from Fillmore.

At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting, longtime Fillmore resident Roger Campbell suggested that some of the traffic could be diverted to South Mountain Road, which intersects with Highway 23’s twisting curves south of city limits.

“I’m not saying send them to Moorpark,” said Campbell, a former Fillmore councilman. “Moorpark is a nice place too.”

All parties agree that the quarries’ application is the beginning of a lengthy review process that could ultimately end up before the Board of Supervisors. Gunderson said it may be time for the county to take a wider look at truck traffic on all major arteries and come up with policies that balance the needs of business with the protection of residents.

“The mines are doing a good job out there,” Gunderson said. “We just don’t want a disproportionate amount of the truck traffic coming through our town. Fair is fair.”