I-5 SANS TRUCKS A GOLDEN PLAN.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Every motorist who regularly exits the Golden State Freeway in the Santa Clarita Valley knows the drill.

The minute a gap opens between big rigs, go.

Speeding up to pass the endless line of trucks in the two right lanes on both sides of the Golden State Freeway doesn't work. There's always another one in front. Slowing down is tough, too, for it seems there's always one behind.

Parsons Transportation Group Inc., a Pasadena consulting firm, is working on a solution, a design that would remove trucks from regular traffic lanes near freeway ramps.

``It would be safer for everyone - regular motorists and the truck drivers,'' said Paul Holley, manager of transportation projects for Parsons.

The idea is illustrated in Parsons' North County Combined Highway Corridor Study, distributed last week at the first public meeting of the newly formed Golden State Gateway Coalition, a spinoff of a larger North County Transportation Coalition. The Golden State group was formed to lobby for money and ideas to improve transportation along the I-5 corridor from southern Kern County to the northern San Fernando Valley.

The target area runs through the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley, where tens of thousands of homes are planned over the next two decades and business complexes are booming.

More houses mean more cars on the road, more business means more trucks, Santa Clarita Mayor Frank Ferry said at last week's coalition meeting.

The coalition's short-term recommendation involves adding car pool lanes from the Antelope Valley Freeway to state Highway 126 and extending special truck lanes from Highway 14 to separate auto and truck traffic through Santa Clarita.

``The first step is to get the money for the design,'' Holley said. ``We're trying to do that now.''

It would be at least eight years before car pool and truck lanes are extended, he said. The initial plan calls for extending the existing truck bypass from lanes north to Calgrove Boulevard in Newhall. At present, 500,000 big rigs pass through the Santa Clarita Valley each month.

``It's something that really should be done if you look at the forecast for truck traffic. It's going to increase, and it's going to increase a lot,'' Holley said. ``The more lanes you have, the safer for everyone. And separating the trucks from the general traffic is the safest solution.''

Longer term solutions, coalition members said, involve adding buses and high-speed trains.

Driving the public sector's involvement in the coalition are developers, primarily The Newhall Land and Farming Co. and the Tejon Ranch Co., which is developing housing and commercial projects near the Los Angeles-Kern county line.

``The concept of the public-private partnership has proven to be the way to go,'' said Gary Cusumano, president of Newhall Land, which is financing much of the current construction on the I-5 in Valencia. ``This is the beginning of a whole new effort.''