The Yucca Valley Town Council zipped through the agenda items during its meeting last night until the final item on the transportation planning report, when it seems suddenly there were lots of issues to discuss. Managing editor Tami Roleff hits the highlights…
Town staff told the Yucca Valley Town Council that the Morongo Basin may be getting up to $67 million in state and federal funding for transportation costs in four or five years, of which Yucca Valley could get $20 million. How the funds will be spent has not been decided yet, but staff did stress that Caltrans will only fund projects that are related to safety issues, not capacity issues, such as widening a highway, or adding acceleration or deceleration lanes. In addition, the council learned that a 17th traffic signal at Prescott Avenue is in the works, and maybe, just maybe, sometime in the future the town may be able to remove the signal at Sage Avenue and reroute traffic.
Deputy Town manager Shane Stueckle town the council that Highway 62 is almost at its capacity for handling traffic. He said there are currently about 37,000 vehicles that travel the highway every day; its capacity is about 40,000 vehicles per day. The worst section of the highway is between the intersection of Highway 247 and Warren Vista Avenue. He added that the town should be prepared to begin the widening process between Sage Avenue and Warren Vista in the next five to no more than 10 years. The council also asked about widening Old Woman Springs Road, and/or adding passing lanes, but Stueckle reminded them that it would be the town’s responsibility to add the lanes—unless the town can present it as a safety issue—as Caltrans will not fund any highway widening projects.
In other business, the council received an update on repairs made to the California Welcome Center.
Arthur Ayala of Yucca Valley asked if “illegal immigrants” were protected by Title VI, which prohibits discrimination based on gender, national origin, race, color, age, or disability. Town attorney Thomas Jex answered that immigration status is not a protected class under Title VI.
