Caltrans is proposing to build four roundabouts on Highway 126 to slow traffic. This plan is opposed by the Fillmore City Council. The Council also hopes that Santa Paula and county transportation agencies will join in this opposition.

By constructing these large traffic circles on the highway between Santa Paula and Fillmore Caltrans believes this measure will slow traffic and reduce the number of fatal accidents.

The council voted against this plan 5-0 and hopes to show that it would slow traffic and interfere with emergency response vehicles. The Council also sees no safety benefit to this construction and worries about the probable need to take farmland as well.

The Fillmore Council has drawn a resolution opposing the project and has asked the City of Santa Paula and the Ventura County Transportation Commission to join in this opposition. Councilman Doug Tucker has called for additional collaborative efforts to stop this plan.

Concerns about the roundabouts safety has become public following the death of Ryan Osler who was riding in a water truck, through a roundabout on Highway 246, when it overturned after hitting a curb. The event occurred near Lompoc.

Councilman Manuel Minjares expressed concern about the construction slowing ambulance traffic to the hospital in Santa Paula or Ventura. In February a Caltrans official told the Council that the roundabouts would probably slow traffic by up to three minutes between Fillmore and Santa Paula.