CALTRANS TO ASK FOR $15.8 MILLION FOR HIGHWAY 138 FUND REQUEST WOULD PAY FOR WIDENING DEADLY ROUTE.

Byline: JIM SKEEN

Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Caltrans will seek $15.8 million for widening a portion of Highway 138 from the State Transportation Improvement Program, officials said Friday.

The state Transportation Department will include the funding request on the list of projects it is due to submit on April 2 to the state Transportation Commission. The commission is expected to approve the recommendations at its June 7 meeting, according to Lancaster Republicans state Sen. George Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner.

"Highway 138 is an important commuter highway that serves the fastest-growing areas of the state," Sharon Runner said. "We are glad that Caltrans has recognized the widening of Highway 138 as a priority."

Highway 138 picked up the moniker "Blood Alley" because of fatal collisions often involving impatient motorists trying to pass in areas where the route is just two lanes wide. Caltrans is widening the highway to four lanes in segments as funding allows.

If successful, the effort would make up a funding gap in a $32 million project to widen Highway 138 from 165th Street East to Largo Vista Road.

Originally, officials had hoped to tap funds from Proposition 1B, the $19.9 billion transportation bond measure approved in November, for the project. But the commission rejected the request in February.

After the project was rejected, Caltrans officials began looking for alternative funding sources for the project.

"Clearly, Caltrans understands the importance of widening Highway 138," George Runner said. "It is important to relieve traffic congestion and improve safety."

Some portions of the highway already have been funded for widening. That includes $24 million to widen the Twin Bridges area -- from 146th to 165th streets east -- from two lanes to four. That project is slated for completion late this year.

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

Also funded is a $16 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 this year and be complete in 2008.

Three other segments are in the design phases and have projected construction start dates this year -- a segment from 60th Street East to Avenue T, a segment from 77th to 89th streets east, and a segment from 96th to 106th streets east.

Construction costs for those three projects are expected to total $21 million. The segments are all slated for completion in 2009.

james.skeen@dailynews

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