Hill Gives Way to Road

The city of Santa Clarita is spending $4.5 million to widen a two-mile stretch of Soledad Canyon Road to four lanes between Sand Canyon Road and Shadow Pines Boulevard. That section of Soledad Canyon is now two to three lanes wide. The city is financing the project but will be reimbursed by developer fees. The construction, which began in late spring and is scheduled to be completed in January, involves removing 325,000 cubic yards of dirt from the hill at Soledad Canyon and Sand Canyon roads. Instead of paying a dumping fee of $3 per cubic yard, or $975,000, to get rid of the dirt, the city is donating it as fill to Los Angeles County’s $10.2-million Whites Canyon Road project. Construction of the Whites Canyon bridge, which will link central Santa Clarita to the east side of town, is scheduled to start in mid-August and be completed by the end of 1993.