Funding expected to help complete transportation, community improvement projects.

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With $51 billion in federal stimulus money headed for California,
the city of Santa Clarita is ready
with its wish list.

 “We sent a list of
requests to Senators Boxer and Feinstein and Congressman Buck McKeon in
December,” City Manager Ken Pulskamp said. “They’re still figuring out the
federal distribution, but we’ve been told several of our projects will be
funded.”

Now that the stimulus has passed, the “shovel ready”
projects will proceed.

A good portion of the money will go towards public transportation
projects, such as $2 million for additional parking in the Newhall Metrolink
lot; $500,000 to improve the transportation information network for residents
and passengers; $500,000 to enhance video surveillance on Santa Clarita Transit
busses (a crime prevention method that has proven successful) and $1.7 million
for a Park and Ride lot at McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard.

In addition, road improvement projects will benefit from
stimulus funding, including $400,000 for improvements to the intersection at Newhall
Avenue and Sierra Highway;
$1.2 million for a turn pocket at Soledad Canyon Road
and Whites Canyon Road and
$500,000 for bridge rehabilitation.

In anticipation of the Senate’s approval of the Omnibus
Spending Bill, which includes projects earmarked by Congressman Buck McKeon,
his spokesman Bob Haueter said that several local projects will receiving
funding.

Those projects include $1,148,000 for perchlorate cleanup at
the Whittaker-Bermite site; $500,000 for public access to the Pacific Coast
Trail, which runs the length of California, including a portion in Acton/Agua
Dulce that will transfer from private to public hands; $239,000 for the ongoing
project to restore the Santa Clara River, currently being worked on by the Army
Corps of Engineers; $333,000 for a helipad at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial
Hospital, which will help the hospital maintain its status as a trauma center;
$238,000 for the University Center Consortium and $570,000 toward the
completion of the Cross-Valley Connector.