ROAD WORK PLANS AIRED 3 WIDENING PROJECTS SURVIVE FUND CUTS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Widening projects for Highway 138 in two spots and for the Antelope Valley Freeway south of Palmdale are scheduled to begin this year, but the funding outlook for future improvements looks bleak.

California Transportation Department officials, speaking at a regional transportation meeting in Lancaster, said a $40 million project to add freeway car-pool lanes between Avenue P-8 and Pearblossom Highway will begin this spring and should be completed in the fall of 2007.

Work will also begin this spring on an $8.8 million project to widen Highway 138 from two to four lanes between Longview Road and 146th Street East.

In the fall, work will begin on a $24 million project to widen Highway 138's twin bridges over Big Rock Wash at 165th Street East. That project, now in the design stage, is scheduled for completion in early 2007, said Abdi Saghafi, senior transportation engineer with Caltrans.

The recent storms have shut down the highway at the twin bridges to allow crews to shore up the bridges' support pilings. Caltrans is trying to expedite the work, Saghafi said.

Around the twin bridges, the highway will be widened from two lanes to four. That area has been the scene of numerous crashes.

Four other proposed projects to widen segments of Highway 138 lack funding for the estimated total of about $47 million. Hoped-for completion dates, between 2008 and 2010, could be delayed.

``If money doesn't materialize, we will have to push them out further,'' Saghafi said.

Prospects for state and federal funding look bleak. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget does not include any funding for highway construction, and Caltrans and mass-transit officials don't expect there will be funding for the following year either.

At the federal level, Congress will is due to resume debate on a six-year transportation bill that stalled last year. However, with the Bush administration grappling with the budget deficit, the bill will likely appropriate much less money than transportation planners previously hoped.

The recent storms were a major topic of discussion at the meeting, but Caltrans and Los Angeles County public works officials said it was too early to provide cost estimates to repair the damage. It is expected, however, that the price will surpass the $300 million for El Nino storm repairs in Southern California in the 1998-99 season.

``I've never see it rain like this,'' said county Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who convened the meeting. ``It was like the days of Noah.''

Leon Swain, director of Palmdale's Public Works Department, said the storms have caused some delays in the construction of the city's $8.2 million transportation center. Buses were expected to start using the center in late January or February, but this will be delayed to March 5.

An opening celebration for the transportation center is tentatively set for April 22. Before then, Metrolink service is expected to start at the center, although city officials are still negotiating the precise date.

Transportation officials met in Lancaster as part of an ongoing effort by Antonovich to bring key officials together to help advance projects in the northern portion of the county.

Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts was Antonovich's co-host Thursday. Each serves on the county's Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. Roberts is currently MTA board chairman.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color -- ran in AV edition only) Seen from Barrel Springs Bridge with a view toward Avenue S, traffic moves along the Antelope Valley Freeway. An improvement project is scheduled for the well-traveled highway.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer