A little help with Highway 14’s “choke points” and maybe even a small wildlife corridor are among the possible suggestions being evaluated to alleviate east-side traffic concerns on the state route, officials said this week.
Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Marsha McLean announced that the outreach is starting this week from the two main agencies involved — the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or Metro.
Metro, which created a website for the SR-14 North Los Angeles County Safety & Mobility Improvements Project, is holding two meetings in the region on Sept. 12 and Sept. 14, in Palmdale and Santa Clarita, respectively.
“Metro and Caltrans are evaluating alternatives that would provide safety, operational and multimodal improvements,” according to the website. “Alternatives will be evaluated that are anticipated to include safety improvements on both the mainline and ramps, enhanced multimodal transportation options, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), wildlife habitat connectivity, and drainage improvements within the (Highway 14) corridor.”
A hotline for the plans and ads being circulated for the meetings refer to work stretching from the freeway’s junction with Interstate 5 through to Highway 138, which is also referred to as Pearblossom Highway.
“If any of you drive the 14 freeway, you know what a nightmare it can be at some of the chokepoints and such,” McLean said at last week’s City Council meeting. “The is going to be our chance to tell Caltrans and Metro exactly how we feel about that freeway — we want to make sure that they’re not taking away any lanes, that they’re actually adding lanes to promote safety.”
McLean said added she made the suggestion of dedicated truck lanes, “because we all know trucks don’t stay in one lane, they’re all over the freeway.”
McLean said she wanted residents to be able to get the information from the city’s website once it’s available, but there were few publicly released details of the plan on the Metro website as of Tuesday morning.
Neither agency had a representative immediately available to answer questions about the project Tuesday, but its website indicated the plans have been in discussion for about three years.
A study report for the project was approved in August 2021, with the approval-documentation process starting in September 2023 and scoping now under way.
The release of the draft environmental document for any actual plans is not expected to be released until early 2026. The website did not mention the project’s funding source or its potential budget.
A project official who could only speak on background at this point said such studies are generally driven by data and statistics that point toward a need for more capacity in the area, acknowledging “chokepoints” can develop over time, and the studies also create opportunities for the agency to implement new technology that’s developed since the road’s original construction.
Also known as the Antelope Valley Freeway, the first section of Highway 14, from just west of Sand Canyon Road to Ward Road, opened on Oct. 15, 1963. The last section connected San Fernando Road to Interstate 5 in 1975.
The project official also said the most helpful suggestions people could bring are for what they would like to see, as opposed to focusing on items or facets they don’t want the project to include.
The discussion could also include a wildlife corridor on a much smaller scale than the one that opened on Highway 101, the official said, referencing more of a culvert-style carve-outs similar to what are utilized in the San Fernando Valley under the 118 Freeway.
“The Public Scoping Comment Period is anticipated to start (today) and extend through Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024,” according to the project’s website: Metro.net/14safety.
The local meeting is being scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 14, at The Centre. The Centre is located at 20880 Centre Pointe Parkway.
