ROAD JOB MOVED TO FAST TRACK CALIFORNIA CITY INTERCHANGE CONSTRUCTION TO START IN '03.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer CALIFORNIA CITY - Citing the potential for crashes, officials in the California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a government agency in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems in California. say construction will start in 2003, two years ahead of schedule, on an interchange at Highway 14 and California City Boulevard. Responding to concerns from Kern Kern, river, 155 mi (249 km) long, rising in the S Sierra Nevada Mts., E Calif., and flowing south, then southwest to a reservoir in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin valley. The river has Isabella Dam as its chief facility. County and California City officials, Caltrans officials say they will split off the interchange work from a larger highway-widening project. That will let them award the interchange contract sooner, Caltrans senior engineer Scott Shaver said. ``Caltrans sees it as a high priority,'' he said. Construction and other expenses are expected to cost $12.5 million to $14 million for a diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction. Diamond interchanges are used where a freeway crosses a minor road. The freeway itself will be grade-separated from the minor road, a bridge being provided for one or the other. and frontage roads frontage road n. See service road. Noun 1. frontage road - a local road that runs parallel to an expressway and allows local traffic to gain access to property service road . Funding is expected to be approved this spring. Work on the interchange had been planned along with widen of a 10-mile stretch of Highway 14 - from two to four lanes - around the intersection, which is about four miles north of Mojave. The intersection has been the scene of serious traffic crashes, including one that killed four Los Angeles-area residents and injured in·jure tr.v. in·jured, in·jur·ing, in·jures 1. To cause physical harm to; hurt. 2. To cause damage to; impair. 3. two others in July 1994. Last year, Caltrans completed a $1.45 million widening project, including the addition of a median separating northbound north·bound adj. Going toward the north. northbound Adjective going towards the north Adj. 1. and southbound south·bound adj. Going toward the south. southbound Adjective going towards the south Adj. 1. lanes. Officials hoped that would make it easier for motorists to turn left onto the highway from California City Boulevard because they need cross only one direction of traffic at a time. Since then, however, some drivers have turned onto the wrong lanes. Caltrans has added additional signs to guide motorists. As the intersection is now configured, motorists leaving California City must stop at a stop sign and then cross the northbound lanes of Highway 14. Motorists must make a complete stop again in the median before turning onto the southbound lanes. The additional signs have cut down on the number of wrong-way drivers, Shaver said. |
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