A $5.1 million project to transform a stretch of Antelope Road west of Interstate 80 began Monday with motorists being urged to slow down.
Avoiding the area might not be so easy. Antelope Road is the best way to reach the freeway for west end Citrus Heights residents as well as thousands of Sacramento County residents coming out of Antelope and North Highlands.
"We are down to 25 mph through the construction area," said Stu Hodgkins, Citrus Heights senior civil engineer. "We get a lot of high-speed traffic out of the county."
The most recent traffic study indicates about 36,000 vehicles a day travel Antelope Road from Interstate 80 to Roseville Road.
The improvement project will add a travel lane in each direction up to the city boundary. Engineers want to improve overall traffic flow with the added lanes. They note, however, that to achieve three lanes in each direction, all the lanes will have to be narrower. They hope the narrow lanes will help calm traffic on a road where residents see too many high-speed collisions, rollover accidents and vehicles into yards and sound walls.
The area now is not pedestrian-friendly, and city officials want to change that. The project will enhance walking with new sidewalks separated from the roadway by vertical curbs and landscaping. It also will feature a landscaped median and painted bicycle lanes. A new traffic signal will be installed at Lichen Drive and an existing traffic signal at Zenith/Tupelo Drive will be modernized.
Tonya Wagner, president of the Northeast Neighborhood Association, said the new traffic signal will help residents get in and out of their neighborhoods. They are limited to a right turn from Lichen Drive on to Antelope Road. To go east toward the freeway or the rest of the city, residents have to make a U-turn at Zenith-Tupelo.
About 80 residents from the neighborhood and surrounding communities attended a neighborhood association meeting July 15 to talk about the project.
"I think the neighbors are pretty accepting and glad that the improvements are finally getting started," Wagner said.
Police officials attended the session to discuss safety concerns. Traffic officers already write a fair number of tickets along Antelope Road. They'll be working to ensure speeds are controlled in the construction zone.
A possible increase in cut-through traffic by drivers trying to get around the work has some residents and police worried. Police officials said last week that they are ready to deploy portable speed bumps to counter cut-through traffic, if necessary.
The work is being done by DeSilva Gates Construction and is expected to take about 18 months to complete.
Call The Bee's David Richie, (916) 608-7455.
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