Palmdale City Manager James Purtee served as the program emcee, and remarks were made by Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, Councilmember Steve Hofbauer, Congressman Steve Knight, Assemblyman Tom Lackey, LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Caltrans Senior Transportation Engineer Sheik Moinuddin.
It is the first of 11 improvement projects along the 138/14 corridor, five of which are in Palmdale. The projects are funded by $200 million in Measure R Equity Grant funds, and are aimed at designing and constructing unbuilt segments of State Route 138 within Los Angeles County.
This specific project will alleviate the existing bottleneck on the southbound 14 and increase the capacity of the northbound off-ramp to Rancho Vista Blvd.
Major components of the project include the addition of one acceleration lane by widening the southbound 14, from Technology Drive to north of Palmdale Blvd., and widening the Rancho Vista Blvd. off-ramp to increase storage for both left-turn and right-turn traffic.
This project was fully designed by Caltrans, and project management is handled by the city of Palmdale. The project will be constructed by CA Rasmussen, Inc., and Psomas will provide construction management under contract to the city.
The project budget is $25 million, with anticipated construction cost estimated at $12.8 million and design costs at $3.6 million. Any savings from this project will be re-allocated to the other Measure R projects.
For more information, contact Palmdale’s Public Works department at 661-267-5300.
[Information via news release from the city of Palmdale.]
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REMROM says
More Cal Trans workers leaning against shovels and getting stoned in their trucks while on the clock. I know some of those guys and they don’t work for their money – our tax money that we get little back for in return.
Nancy Naysayer says
Maybe you should go to town hall meetings and show them your wealth of knowledge on how they should be handling this. Maybe you should file a real complaint if you are actually concerned the CalTrans workers are not doing their job and always high. Since you claim to have first hand knowledge of the problems, maybe you should try bringing a solution.
nah you would rather just complain like you know how the city should run but you arent telling
Tim Scott says
Nice shot Nancy.
Rick says
Sounds great! Where do I apply?
10dog says
How about making new off and onramps on Ave R, (Rayburn Ave.) for North & South I – 14. Plus I-14 on Ave. 0-8. Build a new Church to replace the one that would half to taken down for the North onramp. A nice lot on the South/West of 10St. West & Ave. O- 8 could be part of budget that is costing us 12 cent extra on gas bill now.
Tim Scott says
R is too close to Palmdale Blvd. There’s a regulation about how close together ramps can be. I think the AV has all the ramps we can have.
Infrastructure Investment says
“This specific project will alleviate the existing bottleneck on the southbound 14 and increase the capacity of the northbound off-ramp to Rancho Vista Blvd.”
Anything to improve the infrastructure is worth the time and money invested.
Lgs says
Did any local companies or citizens of antelope Valley gain any jobs out of that ???Probably not
Allie22 says
Good grief! Locals will benefit from better freeway flow, which is an enormous benefit
Rego says
Sure you will be able to SPEED faster then hit the wall and DIE In a mangled wreck!
Tim Scott says
Actually, most mangled wrecks result from abrupt and unpredictable things like lane changes, not walls that very seldom jump out in front of anyone. And one of the worst places on the freeway for abrupt and unpredictable lane changes is where it narrows for no particular reason between Avenue P and Palmdale Boulevard.
Heck, I’ve driven that freeway since before it was built (seriously, I rode a bike on it when it was just a big dirt berm that hadn’t been paved yet) and even I catch myself moving into the right lane because I plan to get off at Palmdale Boulevard just in time to say “Aw, crap, this lane is ending before I get there” and having to move back. The narrowing there is such bad design that the lesson just doesn’t seem to stick.
Tim Scott says
Can you cite any policy statement or guideline suggesting that the state of California has any obligation to favor citizens of the Antelope Valley being employed on state funded projects?
That said, it is almost certain that most of the materials used will come from local quarries where local people are in fact employed, if that makes you feel better. I have no idea who the contractors are or where they get their employees, but odds are some of them will be local as well.
Alexis says
I know this family, and this is what they do. You are right, Tim.
Tim Scott for mayor says
No way, Tim Scott is RIGHT? I don’t believe it! Just kidding Timmy, I was surprised to see someone (other than me of course!) that finally admits that your right!
Alexis says
LOL, sometimes.
tsparky says
At least twice a day! :)
tsparky says
@Lgs,
If you read the AV press, it has a lot more info than the abbreviated story here. Like this clip:
“In addition to helping to make the drive smoother, the project and others like it in the pipeline create good-paying jobs in the community, more than 100 with this project alone, Palmdale Councilman Steve Hofbauer said.”
Tim Scott says
Well, yeah, but with Hofbauer you have to consider that what he said sounded good, and that may well be why he said it. There may be absolutely no actual information backing up that “more than a hundred on this project alone,” or that the ‘jobs in the community’ are actually being filled by people who live here.
And with him you can count on a hundred jobs on this project, a hundred jobs on the Avenue S project that is over, a hundred jobs on the paving in my neighborhood that is also done, a hundred from the next project and a hundred from another project starting after that one is done…and even if all of these jobs are filled by the same hundred people moving from one project to the next, after a while he’ll be taking credit for thousands of jobs. He is a master of politi-speak.
Laughing says
The jobs may be in the community, but the workers may not be from the community.
Classic political spin.