Camarillo residents can weigh in on a $1.8 billion to $2.3 billion plan to widen US-101 at a public hearing Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Camarillo Library.

The Ventura County Transportation Commission released the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the "Our Future 101" project on Wednesday, Sept. 30, opening a public comment period that runs through 11:59 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7, according to the project website. The document is the first formal environmental review for the 27-mile corridor stretching from State Route 23 in Thousand Oaks to State Route 33 in Ventura.

The Camarillo hearing runs 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Library Community Room, 4101 Las Posas Rd. Four other hearings are scheduled across the county: Thousand Oaks on Nov. 4, Oxnard on Nov. 12, a virtual Zoom session on Nov. 14 and Ventura on Nov. 19.

Two build alternatives are under review. Both would add one high-occupancy vehicle and express bus lane in each direction. Alternative 3 includes design variations along the route. A no-build option is also studied.

The project website states the freeway logs 19,800 hours of delay every day. By 2040, that figure is forecast to rise 54% to 30,500 daily hours, with the freeway projected to be near or over capacity during peak hours from SR-23 to SR-232.

Construction cost estimates range from $1.8 billion to $2.3 billion depending on the alternative, according to a VCTC staff report presented to the agency's Transportation Technical Advisory Committee in August.

The report also noted the project would generate 36 million more annual vehicle miles traveled (VMT) than the no-build scenario, an increase of 0.7%. To offset that, VCTC developed a $243 million mitigation program directed at multimodal projects in the corridor, roughly 20% of the total project cost.

Amanda Fagan, VCTC's director of planning and sustainability, presented the project update to the VCTC Commission, according to the commission's amended agenda. The environmental review was delayed by Caltrans' mid-project adoption of new state guidelines requiring VMT as the metric for traffic impacts, the staff report said. Analysis also identified historic and cultural resources affected by the project, including the Camarillo Heritage Grove.

VCTC's budget for fiscal year 2026–2027 anticipates construction starting in 2031, after the commission selects a preferred alternative and completes final design and right-of-way clearance. The VCTC Commission's next regular meeting is 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at the Camarillo Council Chambers, 601 Carmen Drive.

Written comments can be emailed to [email protected] with "US 101 HOV EIR/EA" in the subject line, or mailed to Susan Tse Koo, Senior Environmental Scientist, California Department of Transportation, 100 South Main St., MS 16A, Los Angeles, CA 90012. All comments must arrive by 11:59 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7. The full Draft EIR/EA is available at ourfuture101.org.