Freeways Proposed in Antelope Valley

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Tuesday that 176 miles of new freeways are needed to keep traffic flowing in fast-growing northern Los Angeles County, but officials said they still need $2.8 billion to pay for the project.

The MTA’s proposal for a network of roads stretching from the western end of the Antelope Valley to San Bernardino County would be the most significant freeway construction in the county since the Century Freeway opened in 1993.

The Antelope Valley, home to some of the last remaining open space in the county, has a population of 438,000. By 2030, the region’s population is expected to nearly double, according to the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

And the area’s highways -- some of which are undivided, with just one lane in each direction -- are increasingly jammed with commuter and truck traffic.

“It’s a corridor that’s been lacking all these years,” said Frank C. Roberts, Lancaster mayor and first vice chairman of the MTA board, which is scheduled to vote on the matter in July. “But funding may be a problem.”

A new east-west highway that roughly follows the current path of California 138 would not only serve north county communities but also divert truck traffic now pouring into the Los Angeles Basin via Interstate 5, officials said.

That, in turn, would help accommodate the explosive growth elsewhere along Interstate 5.

The recently approved Newhall Ranch project would add 20,885 homes to the Santa Clarita Valley, and the Tejon Ranch Co. is planning to build 23,000 homes near the Grapevine along the Tehachapi Mountains.

The proposed improvements along California 138, which would increase the county’s existing 912-mile network of freeways and highways by 20%, is expected to take many years to complete, even if the project is swiftly approved by the MTA board.

But with a state budget shortfall of as much as $20 billion, funding is uncertain.

Even if funding were secured, another decade could pass before environmental reports were completed, engineering documents drawn up and ground broken, said MTA project manager Brian B. Lin.

In August 2001, the MTA launched a study of north county highway corridors. The first phase focused on the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways and such proposed improvements as widening and adding lanes. The study’s second part, which began in May 2002, examined California 138, also known as Lancaster Road and Avenue D in the western portion, and Pearblossom Highway in the east.

The MTA’s proposal for the roadway, which staff members are to present at a community meeting in Lancaster today, includes widening the western portion, which connects the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways, into a divided highway with three lanes in each direction.

In the eastern portion, the MTA proposes constructing a freeway with as many as four lanes in each direction along Avenue P-8, between the Antelope Valley and Mojave freeways, a few blocks north of the Pearblossom Highway.

The agency’s staff rejected an earlier proposal to build a freeway directly over the Pearblossom Highway because of community opposition and anticipated construction difficulties.

Nicknamed “Blood Alley,” Pearblossom Highway is known for its high accident rate caused by the undivided roadway’s narrowness and dips.

“It would take so much work,” Lin said. “It is cheaper ... to say, forget about it and build a new route.”

The highway is also the lifeline of small towns, shops and markets that could be devastated if traffic were to bypass the businesses, said Cedric Jackson, town councilman for Littlerock.

Bret Banks, chairman of the Antelope Valley Board of Trade’s transportation committee, praised the study for being sensitive to local concerns. “What has been selected is a consensus between the local communities and the MTA,” he said.

The MTA plans to amend the proposal before holding more community meetings in March.

Today’s meeting will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Lancaster Fire Station 129, 42110 6th St. W.