Plans to pave 20 MT Road to 395 progressing
Committee proposed to spur action
BY BILL DEAVER
CALIFORNIA CITY - Efforts to open an eastern door to this sprawling city are progressing, City Manager Jack Stewart told the California City Advisory Committee last Thursday.
Stewart said the city is working with Caltrans, Congressman William Thomas (R-Bakersfield), the Kern Council of Governments (KernCOG), and local military bases on the plan.
As proposed, a new road would be built north from Muroc Junction following the alignment of Rosamond Boulevard at the Edwards Air Force Base north gate. The road would curve to connect with California City Boulevard at the curve just south of the city. It would then proceed north to connect with 20 Mule Team Parkway, which would be paved all the way to it current connection with Highway 395.
"The connection with 395 will be 90-degrees," rather than the current angle, Stewart said.
Meet with Caltrans
Stewart said he recently briefed officials at Caltrans District 9 headquarters in Bishop. "They've sent the project to Sacramento," he said.
Any decision out of the state capitol must wait until the election to recall Governor Gray Davis is decided and things settle down in Sacramento.
Stewart plans to visit Thomas in Washington, D.C., on the 10th or 11th of this month while on a visit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials concerning the Hyundai/Kia automotive test track project. (See separate story, this issue).
"Caltrans Sacramento headquarters is the key to this," Stewart told the group. KernCOG will "carry the ball" in lining-up support from Kern, Inyo, Mono, and San Bernardino counties.
The manager plans to present the proposal to KernCOG's board in late September. City Councilman Dr. Nick Lessenevitch represents the city on the county-wide planning body.
Committee proposed
CAC member Jim Dozier proposed that a committee of from five to seven city residents be formed to promote the project.
Dozier suggested that committee members be appointed by the CAC and be retired so they would have the time to perform their duties.
"We need people to keep this issue before the officials," Dozier said.
Military support
According to Stewart, officials at Edwards and the Naval Air Weapons Center want the new road as a faster highway connection between the two aerospace test facilities. When completed, the new, paved connection with Highway 395 will give California City access to traffic on the busy highway, which is scheduled for upgrading in the coming decade.
Stewart said he hopes that the new road can be completed within four or five years.
"This will be a very important road for us," he said.
City officials and the East Kern Airport District are also working on
efforts to have an interchange with 20 Mule Team Parkway on the new Highway
58 freeway. The road parallels the historic route of the teams of 18 mules
and two horses that carried borax from mines in Death Valley to the Southern
Pacific Railroad in Mojave in the late 1800's.
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