A.V. FREEWAY PROJECTS PAVING WAY FOR FUTURE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

Millions of dollars are being poured into the Antelope Valley Freeway, making an intolerable commute more tolerable and perhaps brightening the economic outlook for the region.

``Let's be honest, the 14 is not an easy drive,'' said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

Stretching from its junction in Newhall with the Golden State Freeway through the High Desert, the freeway work has been ongoing.

In August, Caltrans will complete a $31.1 million widening project providing some relief to the stream of commuters that pours out of the High Desert each morning and fights its way back in the evening.

The project, which will add diamond lanes for car pools from Sand Canyon Road in Canyon Country and to Escondido Canyon Road in Agua Dulce, is one of a series of long-sought widening projects planned for the freeway.

The next step by the state Department of Transportation is to add a further 18.9 miles of car-pool lanes at a cost of $62.8 million.

The projects are efforts by Caltrans to ease congestion on the freeway, the Antelope Valley's major link to the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles Basin.

Freeway congestion is one of the Antelope Valley's drawbacks, Kyser said. There is a perception among companies considering moving to the region that the Antelope Valley is difficult to reach from Los Angeles.

Indeed, each day an average of 126,000 vehicles drive the freeway near the Golden State Freeway in Newhall, a figure that tapers off to a still-daunting 59,000 cars and trucks by the time the stream makes it to Avenue S in Palmdale.

``The opening of the diamond lanes will be a big, big help,'' said Larry Chimbole, a former state assemblyman who was among those responsible for the freeway's creation.

Projects in the works for the freeway include:

Adding car-pool lanes from the Interstate 5 interchange to San Fernando Road. The $9.9 million project is expected to start in fall 2000.

Next spring, a $28 million project adding car-pool lanes from Escondido Canyon Road north to Pearblossom Highway is due to begin. The car-pool lanes from Pearblossom Highway to Avenue P-8 are being designed, and that $24.9 million project is expected to begin a year later. There's no funding allocated yet for the actual construction.

Caltrans plans to install median barriers from Avenue S to Avenue L in Palmdale, a $1.9 million project with work scheduled to begin in February 2001.

A freeway is born

The idea of building a freeway to the then-remote Antelope Valley began in the late 1950s. At the time, the only way into Los Angeles was a slow trip down Mint Canyon Road to Soledad Canyon Road and then on to San Fernando Road and through the Newhall Pass.

The lobbying effort led by the Antelope Valley Board of Trade included arguments touting economic development potential of the region and claims the freeway would be a good escape route for Angelenos during an atomic attack.

``It was an excellent lobbying effort for a bunch of amateurs,'' Chimbole said.

In 1963, the first segment, a 15-mile stretch around the Sand Canyon area of the Santa Clarita Valley, opened with a ceremony that drew a caravan of 1,000 cars.

A second segment, between Acton and the Vincent grade, opened two years later. The ceremony included Antelope Valley officials riding in the hearse from the TV show ``The Munsters.''

By 1972, Caltrans completed 55 miles of the freeway at cost of $60 million.

From the time of its completion to the early 1980s, the freeway was considered adequate, serving just a few thousand people in the Antelope Valley and the burgeoning eastern Santa Clarita Valley. However, in the 1980s, the population of the North County exploded with first-time home buyers looking for affordable housing.

The population of Palmdale went from just over 12,000 people in 1980 to more than 120,000 today. Lancaster grew from just over 48,000 residents to more than 125,000 during the same period. Santa Clarita more than doubled to nearly 150,000.

What now?

While applauding the expansion of the freeway, questions are being raised over the practicality of car-pool lanes. Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster, believes the lanes will go woefully underutilized.

Antelope Valley commuters head off to too many different locations to make car-pooling an effective congestion solution.

``We need to see an evaluation very quickly on the car-pool lanes,'' said Runner, whose district includes Santa Clarita. ``I would like to see a pilot program to back away from them.''

Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts, who also serves on the region's air quality board and on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the Antelope Valley should be in a rush to do away with car-pool lanes.

``Car-pool lanes should stimulate general usage of car pools, improve air quality and get people out of their cars,'' Roberts said. ``We need to study it more and see how they work.''

Car-pool lanes are generating a lot of interest in Sacramento from legislators wanting to take a look at their effectiveness. The state already has 873 miles of car-pool lanes and plans to up that number to 1,709 miles by 2011.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Map

PHOTO (Ran in SAC Edition only) Traffic backs on the northbound Antelope Valley Freeway due to Caltrans work.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

MAP: (Color) Antelope Valley Freeway Construction Projects