Getting to work on time these days means leaving home at least 20 minutes early for many faculty and staff members at Thomas Aquinas College.

It also means parking in the woods about a mile from the 170-acre campus north of Santa Paula. Then they face a 20-minute hike along a dirt road left muddy and rutted by the recent storms to reach the secluded campus.

Spring-semester classes at the small Roman Catholic college were supposed to start Jan. 10. The school was forced to delay the start of classes by a week, however, after storms severely damaged portions of Highway 150, which runs along the western edge of the campus.

Thomas Aquinas was cut off from the outside world for about a week during the height of the storms earlier this month, said Michael McLean, dean of the college. That started to change last week for those coming to the college from Ventura after Caltrans reopened Highway 33 to Ojai. Commuters then could take Highway 150 from Ojai to reach the 340-student campus.

It's still impossible to drive directly to Thomas Aquinas from Santa Paula because portions of the 150 south of the college were washed away. The highway also was hit with mudslides and sinkholes.

"We've heard estimates it could remain closed until September," McLean said Thursday.

About 30 of the college's 75 faculty and staff members now park in an area close to Steckel Park, off Highway 150.

McLean said he would continue hiking into campus for as long as 150 remains closed. Taking the Ventura-Ojai route to the college isn't much of a choice for McLean of Santa Paula.

"I'd be looking at at least an hour's drive were I to go through Ventura and Ojai," he said.

And that's on a good day, when traffic is moving swiftly on the 33 and 150.

These days, traffic along sections of 33 from Ventura to Ojai often moves at a crawl as workers repair the damage.

Bill Sanborn, a Caltrans region manager, told a group of residents at a community meeting in Oak View on Wednesday night his department needed environmental clearances from several other agencies before it can begin repairing Highway 150. He said some of the repair work would involve a major overhaul of parts of the highway.

Anne Forsyth, director of college relations for Thomas Aquinas, said the college is very grateful a group of private landowners is allowing its faculty and staff members to hike over their land to reach the campus.

"We wouldn't be able to do this without their cooperation," Forsyth said.

Thomas Aquinas also is appreciative of its students, she said. Many of them put sandbags around their dorms because of flooding, which caused about $125,000 in damage to dorms, she said.

Workers removed rugs from two residence halls damaged the most by flooding.

McLean said the 150 shutdown would not affect most students because they live on campus.

He said Thomas Aquinas has been closed before because of heavy rains and fire.

"That's the price we pay for being located where we are," he said, noting that he knows of at least two other times the campus was cut off since moving to its current location in 1978.