High-Speed Rail Authority Proposes Palmdale-Burbank Tunnel

The California High Speed Rail Authority staff has recommended a route between Palmdale and Burbank that would follow the Antelope Valley Freeway and tunnel beneath the San Gabriel Mountains. The authority board is expected to vote on the proposal at a meeting to take place in the San Fernando Valley in November. That will begin the process of crafting an environmental impact report on the route which is expected to be fully completed by 2021. The 38-mile route between Palmdale and a train station near Hollywood Burbank Airport would come out from the southernmost tunnel near Branford Street and San Fernando Road in Pacoima, a business area north of a hospital and south of Whiteman Airport, a Los Angeles County-owned airfield. The route is expected to generate opposition from residents, businesses and other organizations. The Palmdale to Burbank section is just one segment of the 800-mile, $77 billion high-speed rail project that is designed to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco by 2033. However, funding for the segment into the San Fernando Valley has not been secured. Infrastructure construction has already started in the Central Valley. The rail authority is hosting open houses about the project starting Sept. 24 in Pacoima, Sunland, Palmdale and Agua Dulce.