Flood Funds Are Sought to Finish Santa Clarita Bridge

For more than two years, a sign posted on the unfinished Whites Canyon Road bridge in Santa Clarita bore the name of Mike Antonovich, the Los Angles County supervisor who represents the area.

The bridge, which begins just south of Soledad Canyon Road but ends abruptly before reaching the other side, was never completed because the housing market dried up, and with it the developers’ fees to pay for it ran out.

So, it was understandable that Antonovich expressed relief Wednesday as he announced a plan to use $8.5 million that is set aside for county flood control projects to complete the bridge.

“When finished, this project is going to be the vital link to the regional traffic circulation for the Santa Clarita Valley,� Antonovich said.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled on May 12 to consider whether to borrow the money from the county Flood Control District and pay a variable interest rate of about 5%, county officials said.

The loan would be repaid with $3.4 million that the county is expected to receive from a state funding measure, with the balance coming from developers’ fees collected over the next two years, said Jim Noyes, deputy director of the Los Angeles County Public Works Department.

If all goes as scheduled, construction will begin in late July or early August and the bridge will be completed in about two years, he said.

“I’m really excited about this,� said City Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy, an aide to Antonovich. “We’ve been waiting for a long time.�

Completion of the Whites Canyon project is four years behind schedule and will cost a total of about $26 million, including road widening, a realignment of railroad tracks and construction of the bridge.

When completed, the project will extend Whites Canyon Road from Soledad Canyon Road across to the south shore of the Santa Clara River, where it will join with an extension of Via Princessa, allowing traffic a quicker route to the Antelope Valley Freeway.

Antonovich said residents have called the Whites Canyon Road crossing “The Bridge to Nowhere.� Once it is completed, he said, they will call it “The Bridge to End Gridlock and Congestion.�

County officials were under pressure to identify financing for the project because the state would revoke the $3.4-million funding if a financing plan for the project was not drafted by June 30, Antonovich said.