Harbor District OKs Avenue Extension

After months of delays and 10 years of negotiation, the Oxnard Harbor District unanimously approved its $2-million portion of a $44.6-million project designed to create a truck corridor linking the Ventura Freeway and the Port of Hueneme.

The approval, reached Aug. 14, was the final step necessary to begin extending Rice Avenue one mile from the road’s intersection with Pleasant Valley Road and Pacific Coast Highway south to East Hueneme Road.

“Making this final step is a big deal for us,” said Will Berg, an Oxnard Harbor District spokesman. “It actually drew a round of applause.”

The road extension is one of three steps that need to take place for the harbor district to expand its operations, Berg said. The other two steps--acquiring more land and renegotiating a lease on a wharf--will happen in the next few months.

The Rice Avenue extension project, a joint venture with Oxnard, Port Hueneme and the county, is set to begin in October and finish in 2003.

The extension will provide a more direct route for truckers commuting between the port and the freeway and it will clear trucks from other city streets in Oxnard and Port Hueneme.