The Conejo Grade, also known as the Camarillo Grade, is a 7% gradeincline with a summit elevation of. It is a section of the US 101Ventura Freeway linking Thousand Oaks and cities of the Conejo Valley, with Camarillo and the cities on the Oxnard Plain. A Caltrans inspection station for trucks is stationed at the upper terminus of the grade. Conejo Grade functions as a barrier which separates Ventura County into East County and West County. Historically, the mountain was known for its many jackrabbits and prickly pear cacti. The surrounding area was formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, a rare geological formation in Southern California. The native Chumash people had a trading trail through the pass, and it later served as a trading route for farmers and their wagons down the Conejo Grade to the wharf in Port Hueneme. The grade experienced improvements by the newly established State Highway Department in 1912, when the road measured long and had 49 curves. Traffic kept increasing and the road was straightened and relocated in 1935. The new road was a mile shorter and only had twelve curves.
History
Originally part of the route of El Camino Real, the steep slope or grade was called the "cuesta del conejo". Land for the highway was originally part of the Rancho El Conejo, with contributions from Adolfo Camarillo. A road was in place by no later than 1929, as a re-alignment had been done then. Further widening and reduction of blind curves occurred in the 1930s. Caltrans worked on the current grade setup, when the highway was brought to freeway standards in the 1950s. Portions of the original highway continue to receive use by locals as side roads. A young male mountain lion, P-55, left the Santa Monica Mountains in 2017 by crossing the freeway on the grade during the night. The animal was wearing a tracking collar used by the National Park researchers studying the mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The Hill fire temporarily closed the freeway on November 8, 2018 as Santa Ana Winds pushed the fire to the south towards Newbury Park and California State University Channel Islands. The fire was contained with minimal damage on November 16. The Woolsey Fire started the same day, closed the freeway near Oak Park, grew to over, destroyed an estimated 616 structures and killed 3 people.
