Adelanto looks forward to improving Highway 395

Adelanto looks forward to improving Highway 395

A priority project for the city of Adelanto will be to expand Highway 395 from Palmdale Road to Chamberlaine Way from two lanes to four lanes. David Pardo, Daily Press
• Victor Valley Daily Press 

  By Gary Brodeur
  Staff Writer

  
  Posted Apr. 17, 2015 at 7:54 PM
  Updated Apr 17, 2015 at 8:03 PM 
  
  

  ADELANTO — City officials are looking forward to improvements related to a major construction project on Highway 395 that includes widening to four lanes between Palmdale Road/Highway 18 and Chamberlaine Way.

  It is months from a start but is looked to as a welcome enhancement.

  "It is the next big priority project up here in the High Desert," Interim City Manager Tom Thornton said last week. "What I see is a great project" for the city, he added.

  The project area in Adelanto is planned to connect with a six-lane widening of Highway 395 to the south — from Interstate 15 to Palmdale Road — and four lanes of improvements on the highway to the north, to just south of Highway 58. The entire project is estimated to cost $109 million, a regional transportation spokesman said.

  "Currently Caltrans has completed the environmental (study) and is designing the construction plans," Thornton said. "I reviewed a 30 percent — standard review set — of construction drawings in November of 2014. They are also currently out doing surveys and potholing for existing utilities along the Adelanto stretch of the project."

  The overall project has seen installations of rumble strips and widening of the median and shoulders along the road. It will provide for more passing opportunities and the improvements will reduce the likelihood of cross-over type accidents, project papers say.

  Ultimately, the project will widen the highway and add turn pockets at key intersections to reduce backup on the through lanes, San Bernardino Associated Governments spokesman Tim Watkins said in an email. The agency acts as the county's transportation planning authority.

  "The segment from (Highway) 18 to Chamberlaine Way in the city of Adelanto is estimated to have a total capital cost of $38,467,974," Watkins wrote. "Construction is anticipated to start by early spring 2018 and last approximately one year."

  Thornton sees a list of positives in the project.

  "Benefits are more mobility through the area for passenger and truck traffic along with safety improvements," Thornton said. "As far as development, any additional improvements made are improvements that would otherwise have to be paid by a developer upon development of any project that utilizes the highway at that site."

  The Highway 395 project reach through Adelanto is being funded 100 percent by Measure I half-cent gasoline tax revenue, Thornton said.

  "For a disadvantaged city ... how awesome is that?" he said.

  Gary Brodeur may be contacted at 760-951-6245 or gbrodeur@vvdailypress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_gbrodeur.