BEYOND 'BLOOD ALLEY' HIGHWAY WORK MOVES AHEAD.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Although the project funding is millions of dollars short, Caltrans is making progress with the widening of Highway 138, getting approval for an environmental impact report and offering up an interim plan to provide relief from congestion.

The Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation approved a final environmental impact report for widening the highway from two to four lanes between Avenue T and the Highway 18 junction.

The report's recommended alignment avoids intruding on the historic ruins of the Llano del Rio socialist colony by taking the highway a few feet to the south. It then avoids the Llano post office by moving the alignment a few feet to the north.

The colony ruins, rock pillars and a chimney from a hotel, plus rock walls and a silo from a dairy barn, represents the remnants of a socialist settlement that existed between 1914 and 1918. The Llano Del Rio Colony is a California historical landmark and is listed in the California Register of Historical Places.

While getting the environmental impact report finalized clears one hurdle, Caltrans still has a sizable funding gap to overcome. Caltrans has $54 million available, but the construction is estimated to cost $184.2 million.

``We are pursuing different funding sources, but we've had no luck yet,'' said Caltrans spokeswoman Judy Gish.

As an interim effort to provide relief, Caltrans plans to use the $54 million to add about six miles of passing lanes and turning lanes on certain segments of the highway.

Work on the first segment, between Longview Road and 146th Street East, would begin in early 2003. Other segments would get attention between 2004 and 2006.

``By then we hope to have funding to complete the project,'' Gish said.

The plan calls for passing lanes to be added in four areas: around Cheseboro Road, between 96th and 106th streets east, between Longview Road and 146th Street East, and between 175th Street East and Largo Vista Road.

The plan also calls for adding a left-hand turn lane in two segments, between 77th Street East and 89th Street East and between 126th Street East and Longview Road.

``It's a good interim step,'' said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, who has been among the Antelope Valley leaders who have fought to get the highway widened. ``This will tie in with the ultimate build-out of the highway when we do get more money.''

Antelope Valley residents have dubbed the highway ``Blood Alley'' for its fatal traffic collisions. A state study concluded that over a five-year period that the highway did have a higher-than-average number of fatal crashes, the result of the highway's rolling profile and lack of passing opportunities for motorists.

Antelope Valley civic leaders have been pushing for the widening of Highway 138, the region's main east-west corridor, for several years. Civic leaders cite the number of fatal crashes and collisions and projections of increased traffic volumes in the near future.

Traffic projections show the highway is expected to climb from about 21,000 vehicles a day to more than 34,000 by 2024.

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(color) Traffic on Highway 138, seen here as it rolls through Littlerock, is expected to get heavier, and more dangerous.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer