CITY'S COSTLIEST PROJECT $23 MILLION WIDENING OF AVENUE S GETS OFF THE GROUND.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer PALMDALE - Palmdale officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for the $23 million project to widen wid·en tr. & intr.v. wid·ened, wid·en·ing, wid·ens To make or become wide or wider. wid  en·er n. Avenue S, one of the
city's busiest east-west thoroughfares.
The ceremony, held under Avenue S's overpass near Casa Verde Drive, served as the symbolic start of the 18-month project that will widen Avenue S from two lanes to four lanes between 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. and 20th Street East. The project is being described as the most expensive, and one of the most complex, in the city's history. ``It will create much-needed capacity for our residents to access the freeway,'' said Mayor Jim Ledford. ``The commuters are going to appreciate it greatly.'' Actual construction is scheduled to begin Monday with surveying and staking and some grading work. The replacement of the two-lane overpass where the ceremony was held will be one of the early parts of the project. Besides widening the street, the work will include installing new traffic signals and upgrading others, adding a bike path, realigning the intersection with 20th Street East, and installing new warning lights and crossing gates at the Metrolink train crossing near Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling . Workers also will add curbs and gutters, drainage channels A drainage channel is a way to drain surface water. They can be made of several material:
City officials said they will conduct an extensive public information campaign to advise residents of potential delays and of alternative routes during the construction. ``We are going to have to work hard to educate our residents to navigate (1) "Surfing the Web." To move from page to page on the Web. (2) To move through the menu structure in a software application. this project,'' Ledford said. Signs listing an information and complaint hotline number, (661) 265-7265, and the city's project Web site address, www.cityofpalmdale.org/s, have been posted, project manager Tim Hughes said. City officials said they will work with the construction company to minimize the impact on traffic and to encourage motorists to use public transit or take alternate routes An official alternate route is a bannered highway that provides an alternate alignment for a highway. Originally, the term for these routes was "optional"; but in 1959, the designation became alternate. . The actual construction portion of the project is being carried out under what is being called the single largest construction contract in the city's history, an $18.2 million contract with C.A. Rasmussen. Under a separate $1.8 million contract, the city hired Lim and Nascimento Corp., an Irvine company The Irvine Company is a privately held real estate development company based in Newport Beach, Orange County, California. Donald Bren is its Chairman. Operations The Irvine Company develops suburban master-planned communities throughout central and southern Orange County. , to manage the project. Funding for the project was cobbled cob·ble 1 n. 1. A cobblestone. 2. Geology A rock fragment between 64 and 256 millimeters in diameter, especially one that has been naturally rounded. 3. cobbles See cob coal. tr. together from a variety of sources. The city is providing $10 million for the project, while the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is providing $6.1 million, the state Transportation Department $6 million, and Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County $1.2 million. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos, map Photo: (1 -- color) James De La Loza of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority takes part in Wednesday's groundbreaking ceremony. (2 -- 3 -- color) Hard hats and shovels, above, mark the start of the Avenue S widening project with the two-lane overpass seen behind. At left, cars drive over the overpass. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer Map: Avenue S widening project Daily News |
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