West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

Rail: The West Mojave planning area is a major rail corridor for bringing goods in andout of the Southern California ports and metropolitan area. The entire rail network is operated bythe private sector with the Southern Pacific, the Burlington Northern – Santa Fe rail systemscarrying freight through and beyond the boundaries of the planning area. With the completion ofthe Alameda Corridor rail traffic is expected to increase to even higher levels in the future.Aviation: There are several airports operating in the planning area. These facilitiesprovide opportunities for air traffic and the movement of goods. A wide variety of air flightscome out of the region including small private plane operations, passenger flights and freightmovement. In addition to the municipal and community airports, there are several militaryairfields located within the planning area.Non-motorized Transportation: The climate in the West Mojave is well suited forbicycle travel at many times during the year. Bikeways exist in most cities and in someunincorporated portions of the planning area. Most bikeways exist as marked lanes on surfacestreets within the communities. Many of the more recently developed portions of the planningarea provide for foot traffic along sidewalks in residential areas while some of the oldersubdivisions make no provisions for pedestrians. Generally speaking, foot traffic pathwaysbetween unincorporated communities are nonexistent.Motor Vehicles: Automobile, truck, and motorcycle traffic can use the varied networkof roads and highways developed by the State and County. This mode of transportation is by farthe most used system in the planning area, with roadways under State, County, service area, andprivate entity control. In addition to the movement of goods by rail, the planning area is a majorcorridor for the movement of goods by truck, again connecting Southern California to the rest ofthe United States. Caltrans, the Counties of Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles and San Bernardino andeach incorporated community manage motor vehicle systems in the planning area. The countiesmaintain many of the roadways within cities by contract.3.4.5.1.2 West Mojave Planning Area RoadsThe road system within the planning area is mostly composed of four classifications ofroads: major highways, arterials, collectors and local streets. Design, construction andmaintenance of the surface road system is the responsibility of each local jurisdiction’s roadsdepartment or Caltrans.The following road standards are left purposefully vague do to the numerous jurisdictionswithin the planning area. Specific road standards are available from each local jurisdiction.Major Highways - There are many major roadways that connect this large plan area.Most of the roads are two to four lane roads with some expanding to eight lanes in the moreurban section of the planning area. These roads are state and US routes and are maintained byCaltrans. These roadways include:• State Route 14: This route is classed as a major conventional highway/freeway. It is anorth-south route located in Los Angeles County.Chapter 3 3-255