City to transport funds for hub study

Mayor Jim Ledford said the goal of the Parsons Transportation Group study is to find a site to accommodate a Metrolink train station, an Amtrak train station, a high-speed rail stop, local and regional bus stops, taxi stands, and carpool and park-and-ride passengers.

The study was approved on a 4-0 City Council vote Monday, with Councilman David Myers absent. Money for the study is expected from state Proposition A transportation funds, according to city officials.

"The idea is to look at a site that will encompass all of these elements as well as connectivity to the (Palmdale Regional) Airport," Ledford said. "This will be a regional, multimodal station."

Amtrak officials already have expressed interest in a Los Angeles-to-Bakersfield route, he said, and such a center could help bolster cargo and passenger service at the airport.

"The airport is going to drive some of this," he said, particularly in light of plans for a proposed rail stop near that airfield if the state proceeds with plans for a highspeed rail line linking San Diego with San Francisco.

Metrolink and Union Pacific railroad tracks already are located immediately west of U.S. Air Force Plant 42, the site of Palmdale Regional Airport, Ledford said.

The proximity of those transportation links, as well as the adjacency to both the Antelope Valley Freeway and state Route 138, would seem to make the area south of the airport and east of Sierra Highway ideal for such a regional hub, he said.

"We know the demand will be there someday," the mayor said. "So if we can get out ahead of this thing and plan before development (in the area) precludes any opportunities as far as property (acquisition), that's what we want to do."

The multimodal transportation center would likely be fed by a planned Avenue P-8 link from the freeway, Ledford said.

That link is envisioned as being a means of rerouting Highway 138 from downtown Palmdale to provide a better connection between the AV Freeway and Interstate 15 near Victorville.

That connection could further bolster Palmdale's position as a regional crossroads.

"We want to be a major transportation hub. The freeway-tofreeway interchange is certainly something you can't ignore," Ledford said. "The existing rail lines are going to drive the location (of the transportation center) as well.

"We've got to plan a stop that works with the existing rail lines. So you already see a lot of common denominators start drawing you to a general vicinity where all of this stuff could come together," he said.

"And I would venture to say it probably would be between (Avenue) Q and maybe (Avenue) N-8 . . . between Sierra Highway and probably 10th (Street East) and 15th (Street East)," he said.

On Monday, Antelope Valley Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, initiated an inquiry into why $4.6 million in federal funding to Caltrans for the Avenue P-8 link continues to sit unused.

About $3.6 million was allocated for the project under the 1991 Federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Another $1 million was included in the 1994 Transportation Appropriations bill after McKeon lobbied for and obtained additional funding for the project as a member of the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee.

Plans are to build a four-lane expressway east from the AV Freeway at Avenue P-8 to 50th or 90th streets east before reconnecting with Highway 138.

That highway is a frequently used route for motorists heading to and from Las Vegas and points further east.

Caltrans officials have yet to respond to McKeon's inquiry into the lack of action.

Meanwhile, "if we can get a recommendation for a potential site with a site plan (for the intermodal transportation center), I would think subsequent efforts will be acquiring the property, . . . maybe establish our Metrolink station, and maybe work . . . on Amtrak," Ledford said.

"We'll phase this thing over time and build this thing into a major regional transportation hub," he said. "We want to promote all forms of transit . . . because the future is a question mark: What mode (of transportation) is actually going to survive?"

"Our goal is to be part of every study that comes forward," Ledford said, "and every study that comes forward shows Palmdale and the airport as the multimodal opportunity for the high desert."

At present, airline officials realize high desert residents can be forced into driving to Los Angeles for train and plane connections, so airlines see no need to establish or expand local service.