23 Freeway in Ventura County (Santa Rosa, Simi Valley: how much, school, live in)

[leavingSanDiego]

Hi,

Does anyone know alternative ways to get from the Simi Valley/Moorpark area down to the 101 - which AVOID that awful 23 South freeway? That freeway is a nightmare during rush hour, it seems. I am considering a job that is located in Camarillo, but might not take it if I can't get there without losing my mind. We live in Simi Valley. thanks for suggestions on any back roads or alternates.

[Roma]

You can go through Moorpark to Camarillo but I don't know how much quicker that will be but you could time it and see. Plus it would save you from the Camarillo grade. There is another way to Camarillo through Santa Rosa. But those are back roads and I don't know all the street names to tell you to drive on to get there.

I bet Charles will know. He is a member on here and I bet he can give you some ideas too.

[Charles]

If 118 you can cut west on Lewis Road (Highway 34) in Somis but that intersection was bad 15 year ago and it is probably worse now. Plus there are lots of gravel trucks that don't hesitate to turn from SB Balcom Canyon to WB 118 right in front of you as you are going 60 WB on 118.
Depending on where in Simi, you can go Madera west to Olsen then cut north down the Norwegian Grade (Moorpark Road north away from Olsen) to Santa Rosa Road into Camarillo. Or you could take Tierra Rejada to the SB Moorpark Road to Santa Rosa Road.
Another (very unknown) route into western Camarillo is to take 118 WB past Lewis Road to SB Center School Road to SB Fairway Drive to SB Valley Vista Drive to EB Crestview to Los Posas.

You could also take Madera to Olsen to Lynn to the 101.

Camarillo Back Route From 118 Google Maps

[leavingSanDiego]

Thank you Roma and Charles. Am I correct about the 23, though? Is there ever a time when it's normal traffic? I am going to try the routes Charles suggests as a test. Also - I have read about the truck problems on that section of 118 as being very dangerous. Apparently there was some horrific accident there a few years ago which killed 7 people.

[SoCalMomma]

Charles gave you some good alternate choices, but I doubt any of them will save you much time. There are TONS of people trying to avoid that 23!

The traffic is horrible during rush hour, but manageable during the off-peak times. I am lucky that I travel against the traffic to and from work. If you could arrange your work hours a bit you might make it much easier on yourself. From what I can tell traffic starts on that 23 south about 7am & ends about 9am or so. And going north on the 23, well it gets bad starting about 3pm until probably 6:30 or so.

They are widening it, however, and hopefully once that is complete things will be a little better. I find it hard to believe that ONE lane is going to make that much of a difference, but it sure cant hurt.

I just thought of a couple other paths you could take, which take you down through TO, but could keep you off the 23. Take Madera towards TO, it turns into Olsen Rd and under the 23 freeway and then just stay on it, it becomes Lynn Road and that will take you down to the 101. You can also take Madera, it turns into Olsen Rd and then just past the 23 fwy turn left on Erbes Road. You can take that down to TO Blvd, then TO Blvd right until Rancho Road & get on the 101. However, depending on where you are going in Camarillo, Charles' last suggestion would probably be the best