Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued the following statement today, responding to Metro’s announcement that it is delaying community input “scoping” meetings that were scheduled to kick off this week on September 12 in Palmdale and September 14 in Santa Clarita for the SR-14 North Los Angeles County Safety and Mobility Improvement Project:
“I am not happy. I’m aware the delays were caused by Caltrans, but this process needs to keep moving forward urgently.
We’ve waited long enough to make improvements to the SR-14. It’s the lifeline route in North Los Angeles County that is known to have high accident rates with unpredictable travel times. It’s no secret that lane drops and lane gaps have caused severe problems on the SR-14 in the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys. Caltrans and Metro have studies dating back over a decade showing the high accident rates and unpredictable travel times on that state road. We need to tackle these issues head on and without slowing down.”
The SR-14 Los Angeles County Safety & Mobility Improvement Corridor Project is being funded with local tax dollars by the North County Transportation Coalition (NCTC), a regional transportation Joint Powers Authority comprised of Los Angeles County and the Cities of Santa Clarita, Palmdale, and Lancaster. Supervisor Barger serves as Chair of the NCTC.