Palmdale due to work on freeway interchange
PALMDALE — The City Council awarded contracts for a $40 million project of improvements to the Palmdale Boulevard-Antelope Valley Freeway interchange.
At its April 3 meeting, the council unanimously approved the $39.9 million construction contract with Griffith Company and a $485,000 contract with MNS Engineers for project management.
The funds are grants from Measure R and Measure M, Los Angeles County sales taxes approved by voters for transportation projects. The project does not use any city General Fund money.
“This is a great project and I do believe it’s an excellent use of the Measure R grant funds,” Mayor Austin Bishop said. “That Palmdale Boulevard entrance is one of the main entrances to the city for a lot of the commuters in the Valley.”
The project will improve circulation and safety at the busy interchange and adjoining sections of Palmdale Boulevard, modifying the northbound and southbound offramps, Public Works Director Lynn Glidden said.
The southbound offramp will add second right- and left-turn lanes onto Palmdale Boulevard, as well as reconfiguring the intersection while retaining the signal light, she said.
Mayor Pro Tem Richard Loa noted that the northbound freeway offramp, exiting onto eastbound Palmdale Boulevard, is a dangerous one where exiting vehicles vie with traffic already on Palmdale Boulevard. The improvements will address this conflict by making the right-turn lane of the offramp come to a stop in a T-intersection before joining Palmdale Boulevard, Glidden said.
The northbound offramp will also be improved to have two each of the right- and left-turn lanes.
Landscaping for the interchange will be updated with desert landscaping and a monument sign signaling the entrance to the city. Retaining walls will be constructed at both offramps and some aesthetic treatments will be
added to the walls beneath the freeway overpass, Glidden said.
The project will take about 18 months to complete and work is expected to begin this summer, she said.
The Palmdale Boulevard interchange project is one of five funded through Measure R in the city, Glidden said and the second to be constructed. The first project was widening on the southbound freeway to create an exit lane for Palmdale Boulevard to alleviate a bottleneck there.