Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Some Road Work Is Halted for Holidays

Construction work on sections of two major roads here will be temporarily stopped to allow holiday shoppers easier access to retail stores.

Lancaster Public Works Director Jeff Long said the bright orange cones and large pieces of heavy equipment along portions of 10th Street West as well as Avenue J have been removed. And later this week, another portion of Avenue J will be cleared.

The construction crews will not return until after the first of the year, when the holiday shopping season has ended.

Nonetheless, many retail businesses are angry that the city started the road work so near the holiday season.

“I think it stinks because the city did not warn us business owners. They did not confer with us to see what time of year would have been better,” said Linda Bishop, owner of Fashion Flowers. “The city has messed up. They made a mistake.

“I want them to get out of here and leave us alone until after the first of the year.”

Bishop, who opened her 202 W. Ave. J flower shop in 1981, said a contractor began tearing up the street in front of her shopping center without the city giving any notice to business owners.

“I got really upset,” she said, noting that since the work began she has regularly been on the phone with Lancaster city officials. “People don’t like driving down (a road) when they see construction.”

Bishop estimates business at her store has dropped at least 20% to 30% because of the road work, but said the city has rejected her requests for compensation.

“Our original intention all along was to shut it down when we got to a certain point,” Long said. “It took us about a week longer than expected because of construction delays, the weather.”

The city has more than $6 million in road construction work being done now, Long said. Most of the work involves the installation of underground storm drains and street widening.

“Not every job is going to be shut down,” he said. “Just in those areas where there is potential for major conflict and in areas where there’s potential to do it. . . . We don’t like to leave the construction at an unsafe point.”

Work has been temporarily stopped on 10th Street West between Lancaster Boulevard and Avenue J, and on Avenue J between 10th Street West and about Cedar Avenue. On Dec. 13, most of the road work should be halted on Avenue J between Division Street and Sierra Highway.

The areas throughout the city where the road work will continue have either less retail outlets or it is not possible to stop the construction before it is completed, Long said.

Part of the problem, he said, is the city is racing against the winter rains. If the city is unable to get the storm drains installed before the rains arrive, businesses could be facing a worst problem--flooding.

Wes Ward, assistant manager of Sign of the Fish, a Christian book and gift store, said the road work has not hurt the 44636 N. 10th St. W. business too much.

“As far as I can tell it doesn’t seem that it’s affected it too much,” he said. “There’s a lot of people still coming in. Customers have commented that it’s been hard to get in.”

Ward added, however, that specialty store shoppers have little choice but to contend with the inconvenience.

Bishop is glad the city will be stopping the road work for at least a couple weeks before Christmas, but she has other concerns.

“Once they start in January I’m going to have to push them again or otherwise I’m into Valentine’s Day,” she said. “And then I’m dead. This is my livelihood. This is my life.”