Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : 2nd Parking Lot Opens in Palmdale for Ride Sharers

PALMDALE — Ride-sharing commuters have a new place to park their cars today with the opening here of a second park-and-ride lot.

The 213-space lot should help relieve demand at the city’s other park-and-ride lot, which has been filled beyond its 624-vehicle capacity most weekdays since it opened nearly two years ago, officials said.

“The demand is there. We’re simply trying to meet that demand right now,” said Russ Bird, an administrative analyst for the city.

Palmdale’s new park-and-ride lot is between Sierra Highway and the Antelope Valley Freeway at the freeway’s Pearblossom Highway exit. A ribbon cutting to mark the lot’s opening is scheduled for 10 a.m. today.

No one is predicting how soon the lot’s spaces will be full, but Bird said it might only be a matter of days.

“We anticipate it will fill very quickly,” Bird said, noting that when the city’s first park-and-ride lot opened, officials predicted that it would take months before its spaces filled. In fact, it took only weeks.

Caltrans paid $168,000 to build the lot and the city of Palmdale contributed $30,000 for administrative costs, Bird said.

Caltrans is providing daytime security weekdays at the lot, which is lighted and has a telephone. There will be no commuter bus service at the lot.

Palmdale recently received a $1.1-million grant from the Metropolitan Transit Authority to expand its 624-space park-and-ride lot on Avenue S, east of the Antelope Valley Freeway, by 400 spaces. Bird said the expansion should be completed by the end of 1994.

The city may also construct a 433-space lot on Avenue S on the west side of the freeway, although residents in the area have objected.