AVENUE H OVERPASS TO OPEN.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Civic leaders will cut a ribbon Thursday to open the $7.9 million Avenue H overpass, providing access into largely vacant industrial land.

First across the bridge during the 11 a.m. ceremony will be the Antelope Valley High School marching band, followed by city officials in cars provided by the Antelope Valley Antique Car Club.

Since the overpass will provide easier access to the city's east side for emergency vehicles, the parade will also include ambulances, sheriff's and Fire Department vehicles, as well as equipment from contractor Granite Construction, AV Rubbish and Waste Management.

Lancaster officials believe the bridge will help spur development of the industrial land, which they say could support 550 manufacturing jobs and lead to the creation of 350 jobs elsewhere.

``We're well within budget,'' Lancaster public works director Jeff Long said.

Part of the project was funded through a $4 million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and will be repaid over seven years by returning to HUD 75 percent of the city's yearly Community Development Block Grant from the federal government.

Slightly shorter than the 3-year-old Avenue L overpass, the Avenue H structure is 2,400 feet long and will have a 290-foot-long bridge. The overpass will be 100 feet wide, allowing four traffic lanes in each direction.

The Avenue L overpass, which opened in March 1994, and the Avenue H project are part of the city's general plan goal of constructing a ``peripheral loop'' of wide, fast-flowing streets to alleviate traffic congestion in the central areas of the city.

The planned loop system will provide an eight-lane thoroughfare circling the city on 50th Street West, Avenue H, 20th Street East and Avenue L.