Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Bridge Expansion Headed for Early Completion : Construction: Half-mile stretch of Magic Mountain Parkway in Santa Clarita is expected to reopen in May.

Construction crews have worked some of their own magic on Magic Mountain Parkway.

A $12-million bridge-widening project is expected to be completed seven months ahead of schedule, with the reopening of a half-mile stretch of the highway between Valencia Boulevard and San Fernando Road expected by May.

The project expands a two-lane bridge over the Santa Clara River to four lanes and is part of a $23-million widening of Magic Mountain Parkway that began five years ago.

The saving of seven months’ work came as a surprise to city officials.

“Everything is going great with the project,” said Roubik Mardirosian, a city engineer overseeing the roadwork. “We should be done in May if we don’t get any more rainy days.”

City engineers say that despite recent rains, good weather during most of the work is the main reason why crews from Reyes-Security Paving are ahead of schedule. The city’s contract with the firm does not include any financial incentives for finishing early, Mardirosian said.

The speedy performance is good news for Santa Clarita drivers, who logged an average of 20,400 daily trips on Magic Mountain Parkway in 1993, according to the California Department of Transportation.

New construction in the area will bring even more cars when the road reopens, said Nick Jones, who conducts Caltrans traffic counts. Traffic volume has picked up considerably since completion of the the Valencia Town Center, Jones said. “It used to be almost nothing.”

Much of the traffic that would use Magic Mountain Parkway has shifted onto Cinema Drive to the east, which was extended last year to connect Valencia Boulevard with San Fernando Road.

Tenants of a retail center at Cinema Drive and Valencia Boulevard appeared before the Santa Clarita City Council on Tuesday, complaining that the intersection was too crowded. They sought, unsuccessfully, to block plans to build a carwash along Valencia Boulevard.