CALTRANS PLAN FOR BRIDGE UP FOR REVIEW.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer VALENCIA - Caltrans plans to bridge Commerce Center Drive over state Route 126 to eliminate a stop at the intersection intersection /in·ter·sec·tion/ (-sek´shun) a site at which one structure crosses another. intersection a site at which one structure crosses another. and allow the highway to move more freely. A public hearing on the grade separation project is planned for Thursday night in Valencia. State Department of Transportation officials will review studies that show the project would have no significant environmental impacts. If approved, construction on the $31.8 million project would begin in August 2007 and take nearly two years to complete, Caltrans spokeswoman Jeanne Bonfilio said. ``It's a very big deal,'' Bonfilio said. ``It would mean no red lights at the intersection - that's huge. It would allow traffic to move much better.'' The intersection is just west of the junction of Interstate in·ter·state adj. Involving, existing between, or connecting two or more states. n. One of a system of highways extending between the major cities of the 48 contiguous United States. Noun 1. 5 and the 126, also under reconstruction to accommodate vast increases in traffic due to the planned 21,000-home Newhall Ranch ranch, large farm devoted chiefly to raising and breeding cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The cattle ranch was introduced from Latin America to Texas and the plains of the W United States and Canada. project nearby. Commerce Center Drive is a main access to the Valencia Commerce Center. The project is being funded by The Newhall Land and Farming Company The Newhall Land and Farming Company is a land management company based in Valencia, California, United States. The company is responsible for the master community planning of Valencia, as well as the management of farm land elsewhere in the state. , with help from Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two "programs," The Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway . In the 1960s, the 126 was planned as a freeway from Ventura to the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. . That plan was dropped in the '70s as legislators sought to focus on public transportation and other modes while limiting new freeway construction. Now, however, the mostly rural 126 is poised to see huge increases in traffic as the corridor from Valencia to Fillmore is developed. Bonfilio stressed there are no plans in the works to convert the four-lane highway into a freeway. IF YOU GO: Caltrans will hold a hearing on plans to reconfigure To change the status of something. the intersection of state Route 126 and Commerce Center Drive at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Castaic Union School District board conference room, 28131 Livingston Ave., Valencia. CAPTION(S): box, map Box: IF YOU GO (see text) Map: Proposed bridge Daily News |
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