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Port Hueneme directs staff to draft oversized-vehicle rules after Ventura Road bike-lane report
Summary
After receiving a staff report showing shuttles and oversized vehicles encroaching on Ventura Road bike lanes, the City Council unanimously directed staff to draft municipal-code changes restricting oversized vehicles that block bike lanes and to consider infrastructure upgrades.
City staff warned the Port Hueneme City Council on March 2 that oversized vehicles parked along Ventura Road are creating safety hazards for bicyclists and drivers, and the council unanimously directed staff to draft changes to the municipal code to limit those parking practices.
Charles Cable, deputy director and city engineer, summarized a corridor review of Ventura Road and showed photos of shuttle vans and other large vehicles encroaching into bike lanes. He described segments of the corridor that do not meet industry standards — including stretches where sidewalks and multiuse paths remain below the width required for a Class 1 separated facility — and explained that oversized vehicles can force bicyclists into travel lanes. "You get 4 feet or 4 and 1/2 ft. And in this stretch I think it's only required to be four," Cable said while illustrating where parked shuttles reduce usable bike-lane space.
Cable told the council the city could maintain the current Class 2 bike lanes on the northbound side while pursuing a long-term plan to upgrade southbound Ventura Road to Class 1 where right-of-way permits. He urged the council to authorize code changes to address modern oversized vehicles, noting the existing municipal code emphasizes weight thresholds that do not always capture today's vehicle mix.
Deputy public works staff said the city has received repeated complaints since May 2025 about shuttle vans and recreational vehicles, and that parking enforcement, police and parking staff have been consulting on the problem. "Our oversized vehicle regulations really are just outdated," a deputy director said. City staff recommended drafting updated oversized-vehicle restrictions and programming infrastructure upgrades into the capital-improvement program.
Council members pressed staff on practical impacts and enforcement: where would displaced vehicles park, and could the city coordinate with companies operating the shuttles to identify an alternate staging area? Staff said those are items to analyze while drafting the ordinance and indicated outreach to the shuttle operator would be part of the work plan.
Council voted unanimously to direct the city attorney and staff to prepare oversized-vehicle regulations focused on preventing encroachment into bike lanes and to explore possible capital improvements to widen or reconfigure the Ventura Road corridor.
The city will return to council with draft code language, proposed geographic scope (Ventura Road only or citywide), enforcement options, and outreach steps before any new parking restrictions are adopted.
