Caltrans to add truck lanes to I-5 for Santa Clarita commute

Local and state officials have announced a $72-million project to add truck lanes on the Interstate 5 through Newhall Pass and into Santa Clarita.

The truck lanes are needed to separate heavy big-rig traffic from passenger vehicles and create safer, quicker passage for a growing population in the Santa Clarita Valley, state transportation officials say.

The southbound truck lane will extend 3.7 million from Pico Canyon Road/Lyons Avenue in Santa Clarita to the Antelope Valley (SR-14) Freeway (3.7 miles); the northbound lane will run 1.4 miles from State Route 14 to Gavin Canyon.

Officials with the California Department of Transportation planned to join local representatives — including Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian, both of whom serve as board directors for the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority — for a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday.

Construction is slated to be completed in early 2014.

The truck lanes come as Caltrans pushes ahead with a massive $132-million project to construct carpool lanes in each direction along the I-5 from the Hollywood (170) Freeway to Buena Vista Street in Burbank. Construction on the project is slated to last through mid-2014.

-- Jason Wells, Times Community News

Twitter: @JasonBretWells