`BLOOD ALLEY' PROJECT PUSHED $15 MILLION MORE SOUGHT TO GO ON WITH WIDENING.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Caltrans is seeking $15 million in new transportation bond money to widen a section of Highway 138, a move that Antelope Valley officials hope will be the first in a series of efforts to tap Proposition 1B to finish work on a route dubbed ``Blood Alley.''

The state Transportation Department is seeking the funding to widen a section of the highway -- 175th Street East to Largo Vista Road -- from two lanes to four. The funding, if approved by the California Transportation Commission, would let the $32 million project move forward.

``With every section that gets done, the road becomes safer,'' said state Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster. ``Highway 138 will see money from the bond.''

Proposition 1B, which voters approved in November, will provide nearly $20 billion in bond funds statewide for transportation infrastructure.

Of these funds, $4.5 billion is earmarked for a corridor mobility improvement account. Regional and local transportation agencies will compete for money from the account to improve highly congested corridors.

The transportation commission is expected to approve a statewide project list Feb. 28.

Additional funding might be available from other bond-money categories, officials said.

Some portions of the highway already have been funded for widening. That includes $24 million to widen the Twin Bridges area -- 146th to 165th streets east -- from two lanes to four, said Abdi Saghafi, a Caltrans senior engineer.

That area has been the scene of numerous collisions, including one that killed three people in 1995. The stretch of highway has no shoulder a driver can use if an oncoming vehicle crosses the center line.

Also funded is a $10 million European-style traffic roundabout, which is planned to consolidate five closely spaced intersections into one and eliminate the 90-degree curve from Palmdale Boulevard onto 47th Street East.

In a roundabout, a driver yields to traffic already in the circle, makes a right turn to enter the circle and makes a right turn to exit. Roundabouts are designed so the traffic in the circle is traveling slower than 30 mph.

Work is scheduled to begin in 2007 and be complete in 2008.

james.skeen@dailynews

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